Gaudete et Exsultate: Spiritual combat, Vigilance and Discernment

I have just read Chapter Five of Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate which begins with these words.

The Christian life is a constant battle. We need strength and courage to withstand the temptations of the devil and to proclaim the Gospel. This battle is sweet, for it allows us to rejoice each time the Lord triumphs in our lives.

 The chapter ends as follows:

Discernment, then, is not a solipsistic self-analysis or a form of egotistical introspection, but an authentic process of leaving ourselves behind in order to approach the mystery of God, who helps us to carry out the mission to which he has called us, for the good of our brothers and sisters.

The whole chapter is worth reading - and not only because of its realist teaching on the existence and activity of the Devil.

 I would like these reflections to be crowned by Mary, because she lived the Beatitudes of Jesus as none other. She is that woman who rejoiced in the presence of God, who treasured everything in her heart, and who let herself be pierced by the sword. Mary is the saint among the saints, blessed above all others. She teaches us the way of holiness and she walks ever at our side. She does not let us remain fallen and at times she takes us into her arms without judging us. Our converse with her consoles, frees and sanctifies us. Mary our Mother does not need a flood of words. She does not need us to tell her what is happening in our lives. All we need do is whisper, time and time again: “Hail Mary…”

All the Cathedrals (8): Worcester Cathedral

Zero and I visited Worcester at the February half term, so we were there for Ash Wednesday. We weren't able to make Mass on the day, and so frequented the Cathedral for their evening service, with imposition of ashes. The crosses on our foreheads were sufficiently dramatic to be noticed as we walked out for our supper afterwards!

Worcester Cathedral shares a narrative common to a number of English cathedrals: first foundation in Anglo-Saxon times; a Benedictine monastic phase brought to an end by the Henry VIII's dissolution of the monastery and establishing of a Cathedral and chapter; significant damage as a result of the attention of the Parliamentary side during the Civil War (though the extent of this is hardly apparent today, with the only visible defacing in the Hall); and subsequent measures of restoration. The names of St Oswald and St Wulfstan are associated with the building of the Cathedral, the latter continuing to hold the see after the Norman conquest. A summary history of the building can be found here.

The restored Norman crypt is very striking, in part because of its contrast to the construction of the later Cathedral above it.

King John, of Magna Carta fame, had extensive connections with Worcester and his tomb lies in the choir of the Cathedral, before the high altar. (The tomb would appear to have escaped the attention of the Parliamentarians at the time of the Civil War.)

There is also a chantry chapel to Prince Arthur, oldest brother of the future Henry VIII and first wife of Catherine of Aragon, who died before he could succeed to the throne.

A striking feature for an Anglican Cathedral is the window dedicated to Sir Edward Elgar. Though Elgar was a Catholic, he had a strong musical link to Worcester Cathedral and to the Three Choirs Festival. The window represents Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, a strikingly Catholic theme. The Cathedral is just a stone's throw from the modern shop that now occupies the site of the Elgar's family music shop.

Much of the stained glass in the Cathedral dates from the Victorian restoration, with the West window depicting the story of the creation while the East window tells the story of Jesus life, death and resurrection. A repair of the West window was still underway at the time of our visit, with scaffolding in place on the exterior hiding the otherwise distinctive view from the river. Many of the fittings that we see today date from this Victorian restoration. The reredos of the high altar by Sir George Gilbert Scott, for example, represents Christ enthroned with the four Evangelists. The effect is to render almost imperceptible to the contemporary visitor the damage done during the Civil War - it is only in the School Hall that a defaced image remains visible. The Victorian restoration also replaced the majority of the external stone work, which disguises the earlier history of the Church as the visitor approaches from the outside.

 

A much more recent restoration programme has taken action to preserve both the appearance and structure of the Cathedral.

 

There is a cloister with memorials in the glass windows. Access to the river can be gained by passing through the grounds and down a walk way. Set in the wall are stones that mark the water levels reached by floods of the Severn.

 

 

As a city, Worcester suffers from a bit of a split personality. The High Street is occupied with many modern buildings that have replaced some of the older buildings, such as the music shop owned by Edward Elgar's parents. Friar Street and New Street, however, have preserved a number of their older buildings, including the public house from which Charles I is said to have made his escape after the second Battle of Worcester. A number of the businesses in these streets occupy premises that retain features of historic interest.

A forgotten chapter in the life of Pope Paul VI

h/t to Auntie Joanna forthis: An overlooked chapter in the life of Blessed Paul VI.

I do think Pope Paul VI is very much underestimated, and I look forward to new studies of him being published to accompany his canonisation.

Pope Francis' reflection on the "Our Father"

At his General Audience on 14th March, Pope Francis continued his series of meditations on the Liturgy of the Eucharist, reaching the Communion Rite and the prayer of the Our Father. My italics added to the paragraph that particularly caught my attention (though the whole is, of course, worth reading):

What better prayer than the one taught by Jesus could prepare us for sacramental Communion with him? Apart from in the Mass, the “Our Father” is prayed in the morning and at night, in the Praises [ie Lauds] and in Vespers; in this way, the filial attitude toward God and that of fraternity with our neighbour help give Christian form to our days.

Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum

Over the years, the meditations written for the Stations of the Cross led by the Holy Father have given rise to some excellent spiritual reflections. They have sometimes taken advantage of the freedom that goes with a devotional practice and perhaps not restricted themselves to the traditional stations; and they vary in style from author to author. It is, each year, a remarkable encounter of faith and culture in the heart of Rome.

This year's meditations have been written by a group of young people, and can be found on the website of the Holy See here, along with an explanation of how they came to be written. I have yet to pray them fully, but they do look to be well written and a testimony to the faith of the young people who have written them.

Pope Francis: "Closeness is more than the name of a specific virtue..."

Pope Francis' homily at the celebration of the Chrism Mass in the Vatican Basilica encourages priests in their closeness to Christ and in their closeness to their people. Pope Francis' words, as is often the case with Pope Francis, reflect the charism of a pastor:

Closeness is more than the name of a specific virtue; it is an attitude that engages the whole person, our way of relating, our way of being attentive both to ourselves and to others... When people say of a priest, “he is close to us”, they usually mean two things. The first is that “he is always there” (as opposed to never being there: in that case, they always begin by saying, “Father, I know you are very busy...”). The other is that he has a word for everyone. “He talks to everybody”, they say, with adults and children alike, with the poor, with those who do not believe... Priests who are “close”, available, priests who are there for people, who talk to everyone... street priests.

Pope Francis suggests that we should recognise closeness as as the key to truth, and he does this by proposing the two dimensions of "truth as definition" and "truth as fidelity":

Closeness, dear brothers, is crucial for an evangelizer because it is a key attitude in the Gospel (the Lord uses it to describe his Kingdom). We can be certain that closeness is the key to mercy, for mercy would not be mercy unless, like a Good Samaritan, it finds ways to shorten distances. But I also think we need to realize even more that closeness is also the key to truth; not just the key to mercy, but the key to truth. Can distances really be shortened where truth is concerned? Yes, they can. Because truth is not only the definition of situations and things from a certain distance, by abstract and logical reasoning. It is more than that. Truth is also fidelity (émeth). It makes you name people with their real name, as the Lord names them, before categorizing them or defining “their situation”. There is a distasteful habit, is there not, of following a “culture of the adjective”: this is so, this is such and such, this is like… No! This is a child of God. Then come the virtues or defects, but [first] the faithful truth of the person and not the adjective regarded as the substance.

He then goes on to speak of three particular moments of closeness for priests:

Closeness in spiritual conversation. Let us reflect on this by considering the encounter of the Lord with the Samaritan woman. The Lord teaches her to discern first how to worship, in spirit and in truth. Then, he gently helps her to acknowledge her sin, without offending her. And finally, the Lord infects her with his missionary spirit and goes with her to evangelize her village. The Lord gives us a model of spiritual conversation; he knows how to bring the sin of the Samaritan woman to light without its overshadowing her prayer of adoration or casting doubt on her missionary vocation.

Closeness in confession. Let us reflect on this by considering the passage of the woman caught in adultery. It is clear that here closeness is everything, because the truths of Jesus always approach and can be spoken face to face. Looking the other in the eye, like the Lord, who, after kneeling next to the adulteress about to be stoned, stood up and said to her, “Nor do I condemn you” (Jn 8:11). This is not to go against the law. We too can add, “Go and sin no more”, not with the legalistic tone of truth as definition – the tone of those who feel that that they have to determine the parameters of divine mercy. On the contrary, those words need to be spoken with the tone of truth as fidelity, to enable the sinner to look ahead and not behind. The right tone of the words “sin no more” is seen in the confessor who speaks them and is willing to repeat them seventy times seven.

Finally, closeness in preaching. Let us reflect on this by thinking of those who are far away, and listening to Peter’s first sermon, which is part of the Pentecost event. Peter declares that the word is “for all that are far off” (Acts 2:39), and he preaches in such a way that they were “cut to the heart” by the kerygma, which led them to ask: “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). A question, as we said, we must always raise and answer in a Marian and ecclesial tone. The homily is the touchstone “for judging a pastor’s closeness and ability to communicate to his people” (Evangelii Gaudium, 135). In the homily, we can see how close we have been to God in prayer and how close we are to our people in their daily lives.

Now, if Pope Francis' words are read for what they actually say, rather than for what some might like the Holy Father to have said instead, they are rather beautiful - particularly the three Scriptural images that are used to represent the three instances of closeness.  They reflect the "pastoral conversion" to which Pope Francis has repeatedly called the Church, including with his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Do read the whole, from the original source, rather than relying on commentary.

Pope Francis and St Pio

Pope Francis recent pastoral visit to the birth place of St Pio of Pietrelcina and San Giovanni Rotondo was covered significantly by Vatican News, but appears to have attracted very little comment in the wider electronic media.

I was struck, following the visit last weekend, by a sense of how well Pope Francis knew the life and the charism of St Pio, who is a saint without an immediate attraction for me. The visit marked the centenary of the appearance of St Pio's stigmata and the fiftieth anniversary of his death. The address to the faithful in Pietrelcina and the homily at the celebration of Mass in San Giovanni Rotondo are, at the time of writing, not available in English on the website of the Holy See. Reading Pope Francis words during his visit, I am prompted to think that we can recognise in St Pio at least two key features of Pope Francis pontificate: his manner of speaking about the reality of the devil and his manner of speaking about the sacrament of Penance.

The most striking thing about the address in Pietrelcina is Pope Francis - and St Pio's - vivid sense of the reality of the Devil.

In quei terribili momenti padre Pio trasse linfa vitale dalla preghiera continua e dalla fiducia che seppe riporre nel Signore: «Tutti i brutti fantasmi – così diceva – che il demonio mi va introducendo nella mente spariscono allorché fiducioso mi abbandono nelle braccia di Gesù». Qui c’è tutta la teologia! Tu hai un problema, tu sei triste, sei ammalato: abbandonati nelle braccia di Gesù. E questo ha fatto lui. Amava Gesù e si fidava di Lui. Così scriveva al Ministro provinciale, asserendo che il proprio cuore si sentiva «attratto da una forza superiore prima di unirsi a Lui la mattina in sacramento». «E questa fame e sete anziché rimanere appagata», dopo averlo ricevuto, «si accresce[va] sempre più» (Lettera 31, in Epistolario I, p. 217). Padre Pio si immerse quindi nella preghiera per aderire sempre meglio ai disegni divini. Attraverso la celebrazione della Santa Messa, che costituiva il cuore di ogni sua giornata e la pienezza della sua spiritualità, raggiunse un elevato livello di unione con il Signore. In questo periodo, ricevette dall’alto speciali doni mistici, che precedettero il manifestarsi nelle sue carni dei segni della passione di Cristo.
[In these terrible moments Padre Pio drew his life blood from continuous prayer and from trust that they could be given over in the Lord: "All the horrible images", he said "that the devil introduced in the mind vanished as soon as I abandoned myself in the arms of Jesus". This is the whole of theology! If you have a problem, if you are sad, if you are sick: abandon yourself in the arms of Jesus. And this is what he did. He loved Jesus and entrusted himself to Him. This is what he wrote to the Provincial, assuring that his own heart felt "attracted by a higher force before uniting himself with HIm in the morning in the Sacrament". Padre Pio therefore immersed himself in prayer so as to always adhere more to the divine plans. By way of the celebration of Holy Mass, that constituted the heart of his every day and the fullness of his spirituality, he rose to a higher level of union with the Lord. In this time, he received from above special mystical gifts, the preceded the manifestation in his flesh of the signs of the passion of Christ.]

In the light of what I have written here about the relationship between St Pio's stigmata and his celebration of Mass, I find Pope Francis remarks at the end of this paragraph particularly interesting.

Preaching at Mass in San Giovanni Rotondo, Pope Francis spoke of three words from the scripture readings of the Liturgy -  prayer, smallness, and wisdom - relating each to the life and charism of St Pio.

Conoscere Lui, cioè incontrarlo, come Dio che salva e perdona: questa è la via della sapienza. Nel Vangelo Gesù ribadisce: «Venite a me, voi tutti che siete stanchi e oppressi» (Mt 11,28). Chi di noi può sentirsi escluso dall’invito? Chi può dire: “Non ne ho bisogno”?. San Pio ha offerto la vita e innumerevoli sofferenze per far incontrare il Signore ai fratelli. E il mezzo decisivo per incontrarlo era la Confessione, il sacramento della Riconciliazione. Lì comincia e ricomincia una vita sapiente, amata e perdonata, lì inizia la guarigione del cuore. Padre Pio è stato un apostolo del confessionale. Anche oggi ci invita lì; e ci dice: “Dove vai? Da Gesù o dalle tue tristezze? Dove torni? Da colui che ti salva o nei tuoi abbattimenti, nei tuoi rimpianti, nei tuoi peccati? Vieni, vieni, il Signore ti aspetta. Coraggio, non c’è nessun motivo così grave che ti escluda dalla sua misericordia”. [To know him, that is, to encounter him, as God who saves and pardons: this is the way of wisdom. In the Gospel Jesus confirms: "Come to me, you who are tired and oppressed" (Mt 11:28). Who among us can feel themselves excluded from the invitation? Who can say: "I have no need of it?" St Pio offered his life and innumerable sufferings to enable the Lord to encounter his brothers. And the decisive means of encountering him was Confession, the sacrament of Reconciliation. There begins and begins again a life that is wise, loved and pardoned, the start of a healing of the heart. Padre Pio was an apostle of the confessional. Today also he invites us there; and he says: "Where are you going? To Jesus even in your anguish? Where do you turn?  Towards him who saves you even in your despondency, in your regrets, in your sins?  Come, come, the Lord is waiting for you. Courage, there is no reason so serious that it excludes from his mercy".]

One can recognise here the language that Pope Francis has frequently used in encouraging confession, particularly during the Year of Mercy.

I gruppi di preghiera, gli ammalati della Casa Sollievo, il confessionale; tre segni visibili, che ci ricordano tre eredità preziose: la preghiera, la piccolezza e la sapienza di vita. Chiediamo la grazia di coltivarle ogni giorno. [The prayer groups, the sick of the Casa Sollievo, the confessional: three visible signs, that remind us of three precious inheritances: prayer, smallness and wisdom of life. Let us ask for the grace to cultivate them every day.]