Jubilee of the Missions

The days 4th-5th October 2025 are being marked as the Jubilee of the Missions, with a particular invitation to religious and lay participants in the Church's missionary activity to join in the events in Rome. It coincides with the Jubilee of Migrants, being marked on the same days.

The Decree Ad Gentes of the Second Vatican Council (n.6) defined the term "missions" as follows:

"Missions" is the term usually given to those particular undertakings by which the heralds of the Gospel, sent out by the Church and going forth into the whole world, carry out the task of preaching the Gospel and planting the Church among peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ. These undertakings are brought to completion by missionary activity and are mostly exercised in certain territories recognized by the Holy See. The proper purpose of this missionary activity is evangelization, and the planting of the Church among those peoples and groups where it has not yet taken root.

In a chapter addressing the nature of missionary work, the Decree (nn.10-18) goes on to identify three stages to that work: the presence of a Christian witness,  the preaching of the Gospel and building of a Christian community through catechesis and the Sacraments of initiation, and then the forming of self-sustaining Christian life.

The missionary work of the Church is overseen by the secretariats of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, which sit within the Dicastery for Evangelisation (see organisational structure here). In collaboration with the Dicastery for Evangelisation, they are sponsoring a conference The Missio ad Gentes today: Toward new Horizons to mark the Jubilee of Missions. The website of the Pontifical Mission Societies is very informative about the founding and work of the four different societies.

In May 2023, Pope Francis dedicated a General Audience address to the person of St Francis Xavier, one of two patron saints of the missions. It was part of a series addressing the theme of a passion for evangelisation and presenting examples of apostolic zeal. At the start of his address, Pope Francis drew attention to an aspect of the missionary impulse, the leaving of one place to preach the Gospel in another, as he gave an account of Francis Xavier's missionary life:

And a missionary is great when he or she goes. ...

[Francis Xavier] was the first of a numerous band of passionate missionaries in modern times, to depart, ready to endure immense hardships and dangers, to reach lands and meet peoples from completely unknown cultures and languages, driven only by the powerful desire to make Jesus Christ and his Gospel known.

 In October that same year, Pope Francis dedicated an Apostolic Exhortation C'est la confiance to the second patron saint of the missions, St Therese of Lisieux.

The name of Jesus was constantly on her lips, as an act of love, even to her last breath. She had also written these words in her cell: “Jesus is my one love”. It was her interpretation of the supreme statement of the New Testament: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8.16).

A missionary soul

As with every authentic encounter with Christ, this experience of faith summoned her to mission. Therese could define her mission in these words: “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved”. She wrote that she entered Carmel “to save souls”. In a word, she did not view her consecration to God apart from the pursuit of the good of her brothers and sisters. She shared the merciful love of the Father for his sinful son and the love of the Good Shepherd for the sheep who were lost, astray and wounded. For this reason, Therese is the Patroness of the missions and a model of evangelization.

The final pages of her Story of a Soul are a missionary testament. They express her appreciation of the fact that evangelization takes place by attraction, not by pressure or proselytism. It is worthwhile reading her own words in this regard: “ Draw me, we shall run after you in the odour of your ointments. O Jesus! It is not even necessary to say: When drawing me, draw the souls whom I love! This simple statement, ‘Draw me’ suffices. I understand, Lord, that when a soul allows herself to be captivated by the odour of your ointments, she cannot run alone; all the souls whom she loves follow in her train; this is done without constraint, without effort, it is a natural consequence of her attraction for you. Just as a torrent, throwing itself with impetuosity into the ocean, drags after it everything it encounters in its passage, in the same way, O Jesus, the soul who plunges into the shoreless ocean of your Love, draws with her all the treasures she possesses. Lord, you know it, I have no other treasures than the souls it has pleased you to unite to mine”.

Jubilee 2025: Therese of Lisieux - today it is important to revive hope.

In 1973, Pope St Paul VI wrote to the Bishop of  Bayeux and Lisieux to mark the centenary of the birth of St Therese of the Child Jesus. In one paragraph of that letter, Paul VI refers to the "little way" in terms of "dependence on the mysterious Love of Christ" in a way that Pope Francis has more recently expressed in terms of "confidence in the merciful love of God". He also casts that confidence in terms of hope, thereby offering an appropriate meditation for the Jubilee 2025.

So today it is important to revive hope.  Many people have experienced harshly the limits of their physical and moral strength.  They feel powerless before the immense problems of the world, with which they rightly feel solidarity.  Their daily work seems to them overwhelming, obscure, and useless.  Also, illness sometimes condemns them to inaction; persecution spreads a suffocating fog over them.  Those who are more lucid are even more aware of their own weakness, their cowardice, their smallness.  The meaning of life can no longer be made clear; the silence of God, as some say, can be oppressive.  Some resign themselves passively; others focus on their selfishness or on their immediate gratification; others become hardened or rebel; still others finally despair.  To each and every one, Thérèse “of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face” proclaims: learn to rely not on yourself, whether on your virtue or on your limitations, but instead to depend upon the mysterious Love of Christ, which is greater than our hearts and which unites us with the offering of his passion and with the power of his Life.  She can teach us all to follow the “royal little way” of the spirit of childhood, which is the opposite of childishness, of passivity, of sadness!  Cruel trials within her family, scruples, fears, and other difficulties seemed very likely to thwart Thérèse’s development; she was not spared severe sickness in her youth; moreover, she experienced profoundly the night of faith.  And yet God made her find, in the midst of this very night, confident abandonment and courage, patience, and joy--in a word, true freedom.  We invite all people of good will, especially the little and the humbled, to meditate on this paradox of hope.

The original text of Pope Paul VI's letter, in French. is available on the website of the Holy See: Lettre du Pape Paul VI. An English translation can be found here: Letter of Pope Paul VI. Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, written to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of St Therese, is here: C'est La Confiance.

Pope Francis: Witness to the Passion for Evangelisation

I continue to find interesting Pope Francis' sequence of General Audience addresses on the passion for evangelisation. He is now dedicating them to witnesses to this zeal drawn from the life of the Church.

He has recently spoken about Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary to China in the late 16th/early 17th century. Pope Francis' General Audience address can be found here, and it is possible to note the element of cultural encounter that formed Matteo Ricci's life in China. A more academic, and complementary, account of his missionary activity can be found at Thinking Faith: Matteo Ricci: Shaped by the Chinese.

Most recently, Pope Francis has spoken about St Therese of Lisieux, a patron saint of missionaries. The Audience address is here. Commenting on the well known story of St Therese's prayer for Enrico Pranzini, Pope Francis observed:

Brothers and sisters, such is the power of intercession moved by charity; such is the engine of mission! Missionaries, in fact — of whom Thérèse is patroness — are not only those who travel long distances, learn new languages, do good works, and are good at proclamation; no, a missionary is also anyone who lives as an instrument of God’s love where they are. Missionaries are those who do everything so that, through their witness, their prayer, their intercession, Jesus might pass by.

This is the apostolic zeal that, let us always remember, never works by proselytism — never  — or constraint, — never — but by attraction. Faith is born by attraction. One does not become Christian because they are forced by someone, but because they have been touched by love. More than having many available means, methods, and structures, which sometimes distract from what is essential, the Church needs hearts like Thérèse’s, hearts that draw people to love and bring people closer to God. And let us ask the saint — we have her relics here — let us ask the saint  for the grace to overcome our selfishness and let us ask for the passion to intercede so that this attraction can be greater in people and so that Jesus might be known and loved.

World Meeting of Families 2018: my highlights.

 

Reading the programme for the Pastoral Congress associated with the World Meeting of Families 2018, there are three things that attracted my attention as "highlights". The nature of the Congress is that it is not possible to get to everything because things happen simultaneously. If I were able to be at the World Meeting, the events below reflect things that I would particularly want to attend. I expect that I will also want to listen to the Family celebration on the Saturday evening, especially the family testimonies which are usually very moving.

The first is the involvement of members of the Focolare movement, and in particular Focolare's families movement, in a number of the panels/presentations. So, for example, a Focolare speaker is involved in a panel entitled "And the greatest is love: Pope Francis on 1 Cor 13" on the Wednesday. Representatives of the New Families Movement are part of a panel on Thursday: "The Joys and Challenges of Parenting Today". Also on Wednesday, a Focolare initiative in the field of economics ("Economy of Communion") is represented in one of the speakers, Professor Bruini, in a session entitled "The Family: A Resource for Society". And on Thursday, the movement is represented in a session entitled "Handing on the Faith between the Generations: The Role of Grandparents".

The second is the involvement of Aid to the Church in Need in two different sessions. On the Wednesday, as part of the evening programme, they are hosting a session entitled "The Family of Families: the experience of Catholic Families in Russia":

In this interactive workshop we listen to the stories of faith and family from Catholics in Russia, through the initiatives supported by the Pontifical Foundation, Aid to the Church in Need International.

They are also presenting a similar session "The Family of Families: the experience of Catholic Families in Africa" on the Thursday of the Congress.

And thirdly, Rocco Buttiglione is speaking on Thursday: "A Hidden Treasure: The Theology of the Body of Saint John Paul II". There can be few people who so effectively represent an authentic Catholic voice in the political and cultural field as does Rocco Buttiglione.

The relics of St Therese of Lisieux and her parents, Louis and Zelie Martin, are also on an extended visit to Ireland, and will be present at the World Meeting of Families. They will be present at the concluding Mass of the World Meeting. Remembering the impact of the visit of St Therese to the UK, this too will be another highlight - and perhaps one that we should not underestimate.

Correcting the correction .....

There is a thought that I came to adopt quite some time ago now, prompted I think by an observation of Hans Urs von Balthasar in his study Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Mission. Von Balthasar suggested that Therese was reduced in her experience of Christian life, in particular the mystery of confession, by an early confessor who said to her that she had never committed a mortal sin. The thought prompted by this is that the person who has experienced sin has a deeper experience of the Christian mystery, because that mystery is one of redemption from sin rather than being one of perfection originally achieved. Perhaps those who try to live in the Church with the greatest experience of sin are also those with the greatest experience of the Christian life. In any case, we can say that, both at the level of the individual Christian life and at the level of the community of the Church as a whole, there co-exists that which is sin and that which is grace, this co-existence characterised by the wish that it is the latter that will be in the ascendant over the former.

By analogy, watching the lives of marriages that I have encountered, I wonder if those marriages that experience the most difficulty (and difficulty arising from a whole range of different causes), and the lack of both financial and emotional security that result from difficulty, might have a deeper experience of the Christian life than other, more stable marriages. There can be among those difficulties a very radical experience of poverty - of not knowing what the next day, or week, or month will bring. The Christian in these kinds of circumstances has an experience of poverty that may not be readily experienced by others; they may not advert to it consciously as a Christian vocation, but they might nevertheless live it in a profoundly existential way.

There can, of course, be causes for a marriage break up that are a result of choices that go against the teaching of the Catholic Church with regard to marriage. This might be an extra-marital affair, where one spouse betrays the other. But then, later, both of the spouses involved might enter into a second marriage through a close friendship that comes about through the every day circumstances of life. Both of those second marriages are choices that are not morally just according to Catholic teaching. In both cases, the "objective state of sin", to use the term of Amoris Laetitia, means that they cannot receive Holy Communion should they still wish to practice their Catholic faith. The second is, however, perhaps more understandable in human terms than the first.

The situation that Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia tries to address does not primarily appear to me to be the situation at the time of the entering in to the second marriages, or of first embarking on a cohabitation. Instead, it appears to me to address a situation much later in time, when the immediacy of the decisions that created the "objective state of sin" has been moderated with the passage of time (cf n.298).

At this point, I am prompted to reflect on the  requirements set for the admission of a person to the monastery set out in chapter 58 of the Rule of St Benedict. It is not a requirement of any particular perfection but instead a requirement that the aspirant should "truly seek God", with provision for the testing of the integrity of that seeking of God:

A senior, skilled in conversion, should supervise him to see if he truly seeks God and eagerly hopes for the Divine Office, obedience and humiliations. He must be told of the difficulties and austerities ahead of him on the pathway to God.

At this later point in time, there might well emerge for the re-married person through a conversion, experienced in all probability in some limited way, a wish to "truly seek God". Equally, for some, no such wish may exist and the people involved will move away from the practice of the faith altogether; these would take the view that there is nothing wrong with being in a second marriage or with cohabiting. Chapter 8, however, faces up to the question of how, in practical terms, the Church approaches the situation of those who do have an at least latent wish to "seek God" (ie fidelity to Catholic teaching and life with regard to marriage) in their irregular situation.

[Whilst it is less easy to see how it might occur, it is also possible that those who are living together without marrying, or who contract a civil marriage only, might also reach this point of conversion that represents a wish to "seek God" through fidelity to Catholic teaching. Though some of these situations might be readily resolved through a marriage, one might think, for example, of a couple co-habiting when one of the couple is prevented from marriage by a previous marriage, or where one might wish to move to marriage and the other not.]

In this light, I propose the following theses.

1. The person who, even in a limited way, wishes to "seek God" in the sense suggested above, already knows that there is something (morally) wrong with their situation. They do not need to be told it. "Doctrinal clarity" is neither here nor there for them. I recall the parable of the ship's captain and the lighthouse that Mgr Paul Watson was wont to tell when he was at Maryvale Institute - once the captain of the large ship realises that he is heading towards a lighthouse on land instead of a smaller ship that can move out of his way, he does not need to be told that he needs to change direction. And this is where the logic of the dubia and the clamour for clarification runs up against the pastoral approach proposed in Chapter 8. None of the doctrine being "defended" by the dubia and the calls for clarification have ever been put into question by Chapter 8 or by any other passage in Amoris Laetitia. There is no objective need for Pope Francis to clarify that teaching. There is every need, in the pastoral intention of Amoris Laetitia, to maintain the sense of welcome to those whose conversion leads them to "seek God" in their marital situation. The need for clarification has arisen because of the activity of those who call for it, and not because of the manner of Pope Francis' exercise of the office of the Successor of Peter.

2. If the pastoral programme of Chapter 8 is followed, there is a certain testing of the desire to "seek God" and of the conversion giving rise to it. An examination of conscience and moments of reflection and repentance are proposed by Amoris Laetitia n.300; and the discernment is against the bench mark of "truth and charity as proposed by the Church", humility and discretion, and love for the Church and her teaching. If priests and bishops fulfil their responsibility in respect of this part of the pastoral programme of Chapter 8, it is difficult to see how a person in a second marriage could embark on the process of discernment and integration without a genuine wish to "seek God". Indeed, the one who "flaunts an objective sin as if it were part of the Christian ideal ... needs to listen once more to the Gospel message and its call to conversion" in the words of Amoris Laetitia n.297. There is no question here of accepting as morally just the "objective state of sin" with regard to a second marriage or cohabitation.

3. A key point of both pastoral and theological importance in Chapter 8 is the suggestion that, though a couple might be in an objective state of manifest sin (ie a state of sin that is openly visible), there are circumstances where the element of consent in particular, but also of knowledge, that are necessary for that sin to be mortal may be lacking or compromised. In other words, it is possible for someone living in an irregular marital situation, with that desire to "seek God", to still share in the life of grace that is the common spiritual life of the Church. This is the discussion that extends across nn.301 - 305 of Amoris Laetitia, with reference to both St Thomas and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It seems to me that this discussion reflects what one might call traditional teaching with regard to the requirements of mortal sin - full knowledge, full consent and grave matter. It does not question that the irregular marriage situations represent grave matter, and leaves intact the provision of Canon 915 that persistence in manifest sin in grave matter means that a person should not be admitted to Holy Communion. It also reflects what is said above about the Christian life being one that shares in sin and grace, with the effort always that grace should become the ascendant. If one can summarise the discussion, it is in this sentence from n.305:

Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin - which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such - a person can be living in God's grace, and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church's help to this end.

4. The discernment expected by the pastoral programme of Chapter 8 is not a discernment with regard to admission to the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. That aspect is relegated to a footnote to n.305 just quoted (or it was until the critics raised it to a kind of canonical status that is entirely sui generis), the essence of which is to say that the process of discernment does not rule out an eventual access to the sacraments and neither does it rule it in. The admission to these sacraments is not itself the subject of the discernment. It should also be absolutely clear that recognising that an objective state of sin can exist alongside grace does not represent a kind of acceptance as a status quo of the objective state of sin, and to suggest so is a very serious misrepresentation of the teaching of Chapter 8. Amoris Laetitia is not suggesting a standing still in that objective state of sin. Instead, it is presenting a discernment of a way forward enabling a growth in the life of grace and charity, "so they can reach the fullness of God's plan for them, something which is always possible by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Amoris Laetitia n.297).

5. When I look at the manner of Pope Francis' exercise of the ministry of the Successor Peter, its most striking feature appears to be the raising of the status of the act of charity in terms of the living of the Christian life. For Pope Francis, it is a central focus of the bringing of grace into ascendancy over sin in the life of the individual Christian and in the life of the Church as a whole. The promotion of the corporal works of mercy - exemplified by Pope Francis himself in his Friday "visits of mercy" - was perhaps an underestimated intention of the recent Year of Mercy. It is n.306 of Amoris Laetitia which is crucial to recognising the part to be played by engagement with the Church's mission of charity in the process of discernment intended by Chapter 8:

In every situation, when dealing with those who have difficulties in living God's law to the full, the invitation to pursue the via caritatis must be clearly heard. Fraternal charity is the first law of Christians (cf Jn 15:12; Gal 5:14). Let us not forget the reassuring words of Scripture: "Maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Pet 4:8); "Atone for your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that your prosperity may be prolonged" (Dan 4:24[27]); "As water extinguishes a blazing fire, so almsgiving atones for sins" (Sir 3:30). This is also what Saint Augustine teaches: "Just as, at the threat of a fire, we would run for water to extinguish it… so too, if the flame of sin rises from our chaff and we are troubled, if the chance to perform a work of mercy is offered us, let us rejoice in it, as if it were a fountain offered us to extinguish the blaze".

It is the discernment, and accompaniment, of how a person might engage in this activity of charity that is seen by Pope Francis as the manner of an approach that integrates them in the life of the Church rather than rejecting them from it. Its spiritual, and therefore redemptive, value derives from the possibility that the person has participation in the life of grace of the Church. For the one who "seeks God" whilst in an objectively sinful marital situation, it offers a way of moving forward, of growing towards perfection. There is no reason why such a person should not be active in an SVP conference, engaged in hospital visiting or engaged in ship visiting (to give examples with relevance to my own locality), though they are not able to receive Holy Communion.

6. Pope Francis' answer to the dubia and to the correction is already there in Amoris Laetitia n.308:

I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion. But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness, a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, 'always does what good she can, even if in the process, her shoes get soiled by the mud of the street'".

According to one of its signatories, the real claim of the correction is that Pope Francis has left  little doubt about how he wants Amoris Laetitia to be understood and applied, and this understanding is in the last analysis incompatible with the Catholic Faith. I think this claim is in the realm of speculation. Several of the cited instances of actions by Pope Francis that are claimed to indicate how he wishes us to understand and apply Amoris Laetitia do not in reality do any such thing unless a speculative interpretation is placed on them; and in so far as there is any indication of how Amoris Laetitia might be understood and applied, it is as  I indicate above. The Argentine bishops guidelines referred to, for example, do not say anything other than what is already in Amoris Laetitia itself, so Pope Francis' endorsement of them has no content in addition to Amoris Laetitia in any case.

Perhaps the authors of the correction would have better spent their time in promoting an understanding and application of Amoris Laetitia that is faithful to its text.

In the circle of the saints

In girotondo con i santi is the title of an interview published in the Italian, daily edition of the L'Osservatore Romano. It is an interview with Fr Francois-Marie Lethel OCD, who has been preaching the Lenten retreat for Pope Benedict and the Curia this week. The theme for his retreat is "The Light of Christ in the Heart of the Church: John Paul II and the theology of the saints", chosen because Fr Lethel wanted to give his meditations an orientation as a spiritual preparation for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Fr Lethel believes that the beatification of Pope John Paul II has an enormous signficance for the life of the Church.

Per sviluppare il tema, ho scelto un'icona della comunione dei santi: un dipinto del beato fra Angelico che rappresenta i santi e gli angeli in cielo che si danno la mano e fanno come un girotondo. I santi si danno e ci danno la mano per guidarci sul cammino della santità. Questo è il senso della conversione quaresimale: impegnarci di più entrando anche noi in questo "girotondo dei santi". Un girotondo guidato da Papa Wojtyla, che dà la mano ai due santi più vicini a lui: san Luigi Maria di Montfort, che ha ispirato il suo Totus tuus, e santa Teresa di Lisieux, l'unica santa proclamata dottore della Chiesa durante il suo Pontificato.

To develop the theme, I chose an image of the communion of saints: a painting by Blessed Fra Angelico that represents the saints and angels in heaven holding hands and making a kind of circle. The saints give their hands to each other and give their hands to us to guide us on the way of sanctity. This is the meaning of Lenten conversion: to dedicate ourselves again to entering in this "circle of the saints". A circle guided by Pope Wojtyla, who gives his hand to the two saints most close to himself: Saint Louis Marie de Montfort, who inspired his motto "Totus tuus", and Saint Therese of Lisieux, the only saint proclaimed a doctor of the Church during his Pontificate.

Fr Lethel's identification of the two saints closest to John Paul II - Louis Marie de Montfort and Therese of Lisieux - is very interesting.

H/T to ZENIT here.

... and the reporter retreated to his car!

The parish priest of one of my nearby parishes is a great devotee of St Therese of Lisieux. He first visited Lisieux on a pilgrimage-retreat as a seminarian 38 years ago, and hasn't missed a year since. This year was his 10th year as the spiritual leader of the retreat-pilgrimage.

In this week's parish newsletter, Father writes something of this year's pilgrimage-retreat, which took place recently. He finishes the newsletter with the following paragraph:

On the Monday when we were preparing to leave outside Westminster Cathedral for Lisieux, a BBC interviewer suddenly approached us and tried to get our comments on the Pope's visit - centering on the cost! He was obviously looking for criticism, so I just said "We love the Pope" - and the reporter retreated to his car!

Normandy (2): Corpus Christi in Lisieux

We spent the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in Lisieux, visiting the sites in Lisieux associated with St Therese. Given the huge popularity of Therese, and perhaps with an expectation created by the numbers of pilgrims who visit Lourdes, the number of pilgrims present seemed somewhat underwhelming. At Mass in the Basilica on Sunday morning there were groups from Poland, Tahiti and a local French school.

In the town itself, the main sign of devotion to Therese appeared to be a blue line. This line identified a walking route linking all the places in Lisieux associated with Therese. Our guide books suggested, quite unfairly we thought, that the town had been rebuilt in rather uninspiring manner after its destruction during the liberation of France in 1944. The roundabouts in the town had some character - the first one below appearing to have been sponsored by a well known low cost airline.

At Mass in the morning, the Rector of the Basilica took as his text a poem by St Therese. The poem had been printed out and was handed to those arriving for Mass, and we were referred to it during the homily. It was the poem "Mes Desirs aupres de Jesus cache dans sa Prison d'Amour", in which Therese reflects in turn on each of the Liturgical items that come into contact or proximity with the Eucharist. Each verse is represented in the mosaic roundels above the sanctuary of the Basilica. As Father preached, a server displayed the item and a spotlight shone on the relevant roundel. It really was, I thought, a very effective catechesis both on the Eucharist and on the decoration of the Basilica. Father concluded his homily by emphasising the need to receive Holy Communion with reverence and adoration, including when receiving in the hand. My attempt at summary/translations of the eight verses of the poem:

1. Little key, oh I envy you.

Because each day you can open

The prison of the Eucharist ...

2. I wish to be consumed in the Sanctuary close to my God

Like the Lampe of the Holy Place ...

3. Each dawn, I envy you

O Sacred Rock of the Altar.

Like in the blessed cowshed

Upon you will be born the Eternal ....

[At this point Father spoke about the altar stone, with its relics]

4. O Corporal ...

I see Jesus my only treasure

Change my heart, Virgin Mary

Into a Corporal pure and beautiful

To receive the white host

where is hidden your Sweet Lamb.

5. Holy Paten, I envy you

Upon you Jesus comes to rest..

6. Oh, how I envy the blessed Chalice

Where I adore the Divine Blood ...

7. Jesus, holy and sacred Vine...

I am a gilded grape

Who must dissapear for you ...

Under the press of suffering

8. Ah, what joy, I am chosen

From among the grains of pure Wheat

Who lose their life for Jesus

The last, and central, roundel above the Sanctuary of the Basilica does not display an image from the poem. Instead - and most interestingly - it shows an image of a priest and the words written by Therese about the vocation of the priest as she was expressing her aspiration to be and to live every vocation in the Church (these words are sometimes cited, quite unfairly, to suggest that Therese wanted to be a priest as such). These words have a particular resonance as we come to the end of the Year for Priests:

...how lovingly I'd carry you in my hands when you came down from heaven at my call; how lovingly I'd bestow you upon men's souls!

After some lunch, we visited the Carmelite Convent where (most of - there are relics in the Basilica and in a reliquary that visits around the world) Therese's body is preserved. The buildings of Carmel somewhat miraculously survived the bombardments of 6-7th June 1944, which hit the nearby railway station and caused a severe fire in the very street in which the Convent exists.

This was followed by a visit to Therese's family home at Les Buissonets. This was a lovely spot, with a small but steady stream of visitors during the afternoon. We just beat the school pilgrimage, who were being divided into smaller groups for their visit. The sculpture below shows Therese asking her Father for permission to enter Carmel.

And then back to the Basilica for Vespers and a procession of the Blessed Sacrament. Numbers were disappointing for this, so I made a point afterwards of thanking the Rector for the procession, explaining (in my best French, of course) that we had come from England and had seen the notice the procession on the website. Father's reply was "Vive l'internet!". Benediction was given from the altar at the Stations of the Cross behind the Basilica, everything having been done with a splendid degree of care and devotion.

St Therese ......

Rita has commented on her visit with the relics of St Therese at Oxford, and, I think, captures two of the important points about the visit. One is the sheer enthusiasm in an ordinary expression of Catholic faith:

The faithful and the keen to be more faithful, have regained a sense of worth and belonging. Forget traditional and liberal divides, this was about the ordinary being so ordinary in their faith, simplicity and togetherness that it was extraordinary.

And the other is that there was a freedom available in the way in which people venerated the relics. Different people venerated in different ways, and, I suspect, each venue had its own different "feel". This freedom is possible, and enriching, in devotional life; and it exists in an orientation towards the Liturgical, where rubrics rightly constrain freedom.

The two points - the enthusiasm of the ordinary expression of faith, and its freedom - are closely connected; and one hopes that the visit will prompt a growth in the devotional life in parishes, and end situations where the only things that happen in Church are the strictly Liturgical.

St Therese ...

Photo credits: catholicrelics.co.uk

St Therese at Aylesford (4)

Yesterday (Saturday) seems to have been "bloggers day" at Aylesford - perhaps an accident of the geography that the south east of England is home to several priest bloggers. Groups from their parishes were visiting yesterday.

A round up:

The Friars, Aylesford, Saturday - I suspect that the number of pilgrims cited is on the cautious side.

Aylesford today - has some links to follow to other coverage. Updated here.

Aylesford today - same title, different blog.

The relics of St Therese at Aylesford - scroll down for the photographs, particularly of the queue at a "confessional tent", which indicates an aspect of the day that might otherwise be missed. I think this is the post that best communicates something of the feel of the day.

The text of Fr Keating's homily at the main Mass of the day can be found here, and there is a link to the flickr site with photographs of the day. I offer four "sound bites" from the different sections of Father's homily

God desires not great deeds but our availability....

[I am a little wary of how Fr Keating expresses Therese in a framework of transcending a narrowness and rigidity of her time - she certainly speaks to such a narrowness and rigidity, but, reading her own writing, for example, I don't feel there was any sense of her own lived experience of being one of transcending it - her own experience was, I think, one in which that narrowness and rigidity simply weren't there to be transcended - sorry, me being fussy!]

I believe this is what makes Thérèse so relevant and universal in the 20th and 21st centuries. Her struggles, despite the short and very different circumstances she faced, are ours also. In the 1940’s and 50’s her story touched a champion of the New York poor, Dorothy Day by means of a little medal given to her in hospital that would lead Dorothy to a life-long relationship with the saint. A visit to the tomb of Thérèse by the French singer Edith Piaf, as a little girl, would remain with her throughout her tortured life, which was so beautifully expressed in the film La vie en rose.

[I have been citing a passage from Madeleine Delbrel, in many ways a French counterpart to Dorothy Day.]

Life calls for a truthfulness in the face of our own reality and limitation. Only God can lead us loving beyond all the limits of this world. In this moment we must surrender and let the Lord lead us – let God’s will be done. Literally, she had to throw herself on the mercy of God. To use the phrase of the mystic Adrienne von Speyr “littleness absorbed into holiness”.

[I couldn't resist the citation of Adrienne von Speyr.]

Saints are models, teachers, witnesses…. Thérèse herself describes them as levers that have “lifted the world” (Ms C36v).... It is not policies, or politics, or programmes or even economics that will change the world we live in. What can silently touch hearts and bring it peace but God’s love shining through our human weakness! It is the power of holiness. This little saint enables us to perceive a little way to holiness that is accessible. It is obvious that Thérèse still speaks to our world. Just look around you....

St Therese at Aylesford (3)

Photo credit: catholicrelics.co.uk; taken at Aylesford, Friday afternoon 9th October 2009

I think I have already commented on how St Therese fascinates - she draws people of all ages and backgrounds, and all states of life! During a visit to the relics some prefer to hold back and spend a length of time in prayer, while others find it more important to approach the reliquary and spend time in a more visible, physical contact with it. The freedom for different styles in prayer is quite interesting to see, and the arrangements at the visit venues seem to have been designed to make provision for this.

There is a combination of an intense privacy (I suspect that each person's visit is quite unique to them) and a very powerful evangelising witness that is open and public (I doubt that anyone has sensed that they were "alone" during a visit and I, for one, really appreciated those around me during my visit). I wonder whether this profound balance between the personal and the public in what is a devotional act of the Church has something to teach us about the same balance in the more strictly Liturgical life? How do we put into practice the boundaries that protect rightful privacy and yet enable an appropriate public participation?

During my visit, I loved:

the Traveller families, especially the girl who knelt on her heels for minutes on end beside the relics, before coming and going

the children of two or three families who came and went, and returned, and wandered around the chapel

the Sisters who sat just behind me, praying the Rosary, and who were still there when I left

those who, as it got later and there were fewer visitors coming and going, knelt on their own beside the casket to make their visit, in full view of everyone else

a silence that was not literal (the occasional exchange of a few words, the sound of feet coming and going) but was nevertheless very real, and quite spontaneous

the natural discretion of those taking photographs - no fuss, no complaints, no posing beside the casket, and space around the casket for it to be done discretely, it being in some way a part of the freedom of a style of prayer in a technological age when people return again to the photographs on their mobile phones, care taken to make it non-intrusive

The Knights of St Columba who combined supervising the visitors with standing as a kind of guard of honour at the casket, especially when they enouraged hesitant visitors to approach the casket

[I think some venues have discouraged photographs at the reliquary or in the Church, and there is something to be said for this. The situations of different venues might well be making photographs less appropriate in some places than in others. Aylesford appeared to be neither encouraging nor discouraging them, and there can be no doubt that the photographs on the catholicrelics blog are a wonderful aspect of the evangelising impact of the visit.]

I think it would be very easy to underestimate the extent to which those visiting the relics have evangelised each other during their visits, through the profound balance of privacy and publicity in their visits, as well as contributed to an evangelisation "ad extra" to the Church.

St Therese at Aylesford (2)

I arrived at Aylesford just as the last of the coaches of school children were leaving after the welcoming service. The weather was, by this time, overcast and threatening rain. The field being used as a car park was comfortably occupied, but not full. We were able to enter the Relics Chapel to visit St Therese Relics after only a short queue, and spent about half an hour there before Mass. These are my photos ...

As you can see from the first photograph, the arrangement of the casket in the chapel allowed for people to move through the chapel, to move close up to and to touch the casket, or to position themselves away from the casket towards the walls of the chapel for a longer time of prayer.

Attendance at the 4.30 pm Mass was probably smaller than anticipated - the prospect of serious rain was quite apparent by this time, and probably meant that some went home who would have otherwise stayed for Mass. The relics were moved to a position before the altar on the main shrine area - which is open air - for Mass. The rain duly materialised during Mass itself; we were definitely wet by the end of Mass. I could cope with the rain. I found it rather more difficult to cope with the notion aired in the homily that Therese was someone who "wrote her own narrative" and was a "risk taker" for God. What on earth (or, indeed, in heaven!) these categories really meant in reference to St Therese escaped me altogether - I think she very much tried at all times to write God's narrative rather than her own, and few Christians have lived their lives with the utter conviction with which Therese lived hers. That she was taking a "risk" simply would not have occurred to her.

The rain drops on my camera lens, and visible on the surface of the pond, give you some idea of how wet it was at the end of Mass.

After a return to the car for a few minutes shelter and a repast of chocolate, sandwiches, fruit and cake, we tracked down a hot drink before returning to the Relics Chapel to spend some more time with St Therese. There, emerging from the celebration of Evening Prayer we met someone we both knew, though through different ways. He was staying at Aylesford, on retreat, during the visit of the relics.

I had decided to visit at this time because I hoped it would be less busy than at other times during the weekend, and that we would catch a kind of lull between the welcoming service and people arriving later in the evening after work. A less busy time, I thought, would allow us to spend more time in the presence of the relics, and to spend that time more prayerfully; we would not be hindering other people's visits. This turned out to be exactly what happened for us. We were able to spend as much time as we wanted with Therese.

The sense and the power of that time spent in the company of Therese lived up to every expectation that I had had of it. It was utterly irreplaceable, so much so that at one point I thought I might have difficulty leaving. In the end there came a quite natural time to take my leave.

I had intended to print off the interview with St Therese to use as my prayer during my visit, but forgot. Instead I prayed Madeleine Delbrel's meditation "We, the ordinary people of the streets".

We find that prayer is action and that action is prayer. It seems to us that truly loving action is filled with light.It seems to us that a soul standing before such action is like a night that is full of expectation for the coming dawn. And when the light breaks, when God's will is clearly understood, she lives it out gently, with poise, peacefully watching her God inspiring her and at work within her. It seems to us that action is also an imploring prayer. ...

As I prayed this paragraph, I felt as if I was in the position of the comma between "understood" and "she" - knowing what I should be doing, but not yet doing it. And the fact that it was dark outside added depth to the sense of the expectation for a coming dawn.

Our feet march upon a street, but our heartbeat reverberates through the whole world. That is why our small acts, which we can't decide whether they're actio­n or contemplation, perfectly join together the love of God and the love of our neighbor...

Is the doorbell ringing? Quick, open the door! It’s God coming to love us. Is someone asking us to do something? Here you are! … it’s God coming to love us. Is it time to sit down for lunch? Let’s go … it’s God coming to love us.

But, perhaps more fundamentally, I simply spent some time with Therese looking towards the Lord. And this is what I shared with all those others also visiting the relics at the time, and to whom it may not have occurred to pray with the words of Madeleine Delbrel.

I finished my time of prayer with a votive Evening Prayer of St Therese of Lisieux, having prayed a similar votive office at Morning Prayer; and with a few moments knelt, touching the casket.

And with a last look back towards the main shrine area, and some photographs, before returning to the car to come home.

St Therese at Aylesford (1)

I know, I have missed out one or two stops ... but you can catch up on them if you wish by going to the relics blog on the links alongside. These photographs are from the welcoming ceremony at The Friars, Aylesford this afternoon. Photo credits, as usual, to catholicrelics.co.uk.

The headline of the post on the Catholic Relics blog is: 4 000 pilgrims, 131 coaches. Kentonline reports the figure as 2 000 pilgrims, and gives an expectation of 25 000 visitors over the coming weekend. Whichever figure you accept, it is still quite impressive for the welcoming service, held on the afternoon of a working day. The weather deteriorated towards the end of the afternoon ...

Some "late" Therese photos

I can't remember where these photos were taken, but I think they just have to be posted! I think they are from Lancaster Cathedral.

Therese in Leeds

Photographs from the celebration for young people. Photocredit to catholicrelics.co.uk.

Bishop Roche's homily

I have had the experience during the last few months of re-acquainting myself with the writings of St Therese of Lisieux - and of others writing about her. One aspect of this experience has been seeing just how much she is able to fascinate - and to catch the imagination of the most varied people. The enthusiasm for the visit of her relics also bears witness to this. The other aspect that has struck me is that, though in some ways simplicity is a leitmotif of St Therese, the gaining of a full and proper understanding of her teaching is far from simple. She is like a diamond, with lots of different facets which all need to be put together to get the full picture.

Bishop Roche's homily appears to me to capture this complexity very well.

She was only a nun for nine of her twenty four years yet, today, she stands alongside some of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of her age, as one who wrestled with the deepest problems of human existence, the enigma of human suffering and the mystery of despair. And now she stands among the Doctors of the Church – those theological giants, and mystics, to whom has been revealed insights into the divine life that are important for Christian living.

And these words surely indicate a relevance of her teaching and life to our contemporary situation:

He led her into the deeper trials of the spirit where the soul was purified because against all the odds, in the darkness and the sense of abandonment, and the questions that arose as to whether God was there, she remained faithful because she knew this was the ultimate test of love. She described this experience as a night of nonexistence where she mingled with the spirits of atheism and unbelief.

An interview with St Therese

I am not able to be present for Eucharistic Adoration in the parish today, as I am away for a union branch secretaries conference. A team of collaborators are looking after it all for me. This is one of the meditations, an interview with St Therese. The idea of an "interview" was originally intended for the Adoration for Children and Families, but I also use it for the "grown ups".

Interviewer: St Therese, you are a very popular saint. You are the patron saint of missionaries who preach the Gospel in far away countries. It is good of you to join us today.

I’m happy to be here.

Interviewer: Please, tell us a little about yourself. Where were you born?

I was born in a town called Alencon, in the north of France in 1873. I was the youngest child in our family.

Interviewer: Were you very close to your family?

Yes. My mother died when I was four years old, and this upset me a lot. My eldest sister, Pauline, was then like a “second mother” to me. When she joined the Carmelite convent in Lisieux, the next eldest sister took over looking after me. I was very close to my father - he used to call me his “Queen”.

Interviewer: Were you able to make your first Holy Communion?

Yes. It made a big impression on me. It was so real for me that I kept on thinking of St Paul’s words: ‘I am alive; or rather, not I; it is Christ that lives in me’. It was unusual at that time to receive Holy Communion every time you went to Mass. I was so keen that I was given permission to receive Communion on every big feast day. Every time, my sister Marie would talk with me the night before to prepare me to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion.

Interviewer: Did you always want to be a Carmelite nun?

I wanted to enter the convent when I was 14, but I was too young. Everyone said “no” - the nuns in the convent, the local priest and even the Bishop. I was so determined I even asked the Pope when I went to Rome with a pilgrimage! Eventually I was allowed to enter when I was 15.

Interviewer: What difficulties did you face in life?

There are always lots of difficulties in life, especially in a convent! I had to learn how to live with lots of little things that annoyed me, and to see them as a way of coming closer to God. But I had three big difficulties. When my oldest sister entered the convent, I was quite ill with headaches and bad dreams. This came to an end when I saw an image of the Virgin Mary smiling at me one Christmas.

Interviewer: … and the second problem?

In the convent, I was quite sick. I spent the last 18 months or so of my life in bed suffering from a disease called tuberculosis. This was very painful, and was my second big difficulty.

Interviewer: Was that the end of your difficulties?

No. During my last illness I had a third difficulty that was more spiritual. I had serious doubts about the existence of heaven - and when you know you are dying this is quite terrifying. Deep down, I suppose I didn’t lose my faith and hope - but it sometimes felt as if I had lost it.

Interviewer: How did you become famous after you had died?

When I was a nun, I was asked to write a kind of autobiography by my superiors. The first part I wrote as childhood memories for the Prioress. I later wrote two more parts at the request of my superiors. These became the book “Story of a Soul” - and when it was published, it was a best seller. That is how I became so famous.

Interviewer: What is the “little way”?

The phrase refers to the idea that we do not have to do “big things” to be a saint. We can be a saint by doing “small things”. For most people, in fact, small things are the only way in which we can be a saint because we don’t get the chance to do big things. Most of us need this short cut to being a saint. I once compared this to going up to God in a lift instead of using the stairs (lifts in buildings were a new invention when I was alive!). But this is only one part of my teaching.

Interviewer: What are the other parts of your teaching?

The really basic thing is that we should trust God’s love for us. It is true that we have to try hard to love God; but the important thing is that He loves us first. Our trying to love God is not something that we have to do “on our own”. It is an answer to God’s love for us. It is enough for us to hand ourselves over into the love of God, and then “rest” in that love. Sometimes people don’t understand this state of being in the love of God, and think the “little way” is just about what you do. The “little things” that we do follow on from this being in the love of God and show it to the world.

Interviewer: What does the “little way” have to say about suffering?

I suffered a lot in my life, so I can speak from experience about this. It is easy to think of suffering as a punishment for what we have done wrong, and some Christians do think like this. But I think that suffering has a lot more to do with love. We talk about someone’s heart “burning up with love”; what we are trying to say is that they are overwhelmed by love. In the spiritual life, the overwhelming love that God has for us purifies - and so it is suffering. At one point in the convent I made an offering of myself to the merciful love of God - but notice that it was an offering to be burnt up by the love of God, not to be destroyed by his punishment.

Interviewer: Did you ever want to do anything else except be a nun?

Sometimes I thought I would want to be a missionary, but I was not strong enough to join the convents being opened in Asia. I kind of wanted to do everything at once, and be everywhere at once, in order to preach the Gospel. But I realised that loving God where I was in the convent had a power that reached everywhere in the Church, and that this was what I was meant to do. Near the end of my life I spoke about my mission being that of “making God loved by others in the way that I love Him”, of letting others know about my “little way”.

Interviewer: And you died on 30th September 1897. Thank you Therese of Lisieux for joining us today, and sharing the story of your life with us.

St Therese and "Lancashire Catholicism"

Photocredits: Lancaster Cathedral blog.

I can't resist copying a couple of quotes from this post, at the Catholic Relics blog:

Just as with previous venues, St Therese is attracting crowds to Lancaster Cathedral, where Catholicism has been strong since the days of the Romans and which boasts six martyrs within the confines of the city. ‘The County of the Saints’, as Lancashire Catholics are glad to speak of the county happily welcomed people from right across the north-west and Scotland as the relics reached the cathedral...

Yet, there are also those for whom Lancashire Catholicism is quietly undemonstrative, who have ‘just turned up’ and will continue to do so during the 48 hours of the visit.

St Therese at Preston Carmel

The photographs suggest that this was a particularly intimate setting for St Therese. If my memory serves me correctly, there is an army barracks fairly close to the Carmel in Preston, and hence perhaps the soldiers in the "bearer party". Photo credits: catholicrelics.co.uk.