Hope - F.SS.R Ordinations - Turtle Dove in Stronsay

                      

                                  Golgotha Monastery, Papa Stronsay, Orkney

Last Sunday at Mass in Our Lady's Chapel, Stronsay,  Brother Yousef  Marie F.SS.R preached  on the theological virtue of 'Hope'.  It was a memorable and unique occasion, not I hasten to add, because Brother Yousef preached, for he has done this on many occasions in his own excellent and inimitable way,  but because it was the last time that he would preach as a Deacon.  Next Saturday, 22 June, at the Chiesa della Santissima Trinita Dei Pellegrini, Rome, he and confrere Brother Magdala Maria F.SS.R will be ordained to the priesthood by His Excellency, Archbishop Guido Pozzo,  Papal Almoner, Titular Archbishop of Balneoregium.

This day will surely be forever etched in the history of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, with the whole community from Papa Stronsay travelling to Rome to share in this unique occasion.The faithful on Stronsay have not been forgotten, for a visiting priest  will be staying here next week-end, and will be celebrating the traditional EF Mass in Our Lady's Chapel. We are grateful to both Fr. Anthony Mary F.SS.R for arranging this, and to our visiting priest for his charity.

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Having listened to Brother Yousef's admirable sermon on Sunday in which he discussed the virtue of 'Hope', I am taking the opportunity to reproduce a sermon/letter by His Lordship, Bishop Hugh Gilbert O.S.B., Bishop of Aberdeen, on the same subject, and  presented on 1 May this year, 5th Sunday after Easter, and published on the Diocesan web-site on that date. I find the Bishop's thoughtful words deeply moving and a source of real spiritual encouragement:-

 

 'Reflecting on today’s three readings, it struck me that the first is about faith, the second about hope, and the last (the Gospel), about charity/love. As bishop, I often wonder: when the Lord looks at us, looks at our diocese, what does he see? What makes him smile? The answer is: faith, hope and charity in us. That’s our beauty. And here today is this holy trio.

In the 1st reading, faith was mentioned twice. Paul and Barnabas were encouraging the new converts to persevere in the faith. In the Gospel we heard Jesus saying: ‘I give you a new commandment, love one another; just as I have loved you, you too must love one another.’ And in the middle, in the 2nd reading, came hope. The word wasn’t used, but what’s described there is exactly what we hope for.
It’s hope that drives us. And here is hope in the middle of our three readings. A French poet once imagined Faith and Charity as two elder, rather stately sisters walking along, and in the middle, between them, tugging at their hands, is their little sister, Hope. She is jumping and skipping and hopping, pushing ahead. And it’s she, the little one, who’s really leading the other two. Or think of how dogs take people for walks. There is the dog, sniffing, listening, excited, spotting a rabbit, pulling at the leash. Yes, it’s our hope that keeps us believing and loving. It’s hope that keeps us young, that stops us being cynical and miserable, ‘moaning for Scotland’.
So let’s explore this 2nd reading.
‘I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared and there was no more sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband.’
Here’s a first thought: how big our hope is. Often we think of heaven too narrowly: heaven is where I’ll be okay, I’ll be happy, and see my friends again. But God’s horizon is broader.
There will be ‘a new heaven and a new earth.’ The whole of creation, universe, nature will be transformed. We will have a whole new environment. ‘There will be no more sea.’ That sounds strange. Many people love the sea. The language is symbolic, of course. In fact, the ancient Israelites, the Jews, generally didn’t like the sea. It seemed to them huge, chaotic, destructive. Think of a tsunami. So, ‘no more sea’ means creation no longer at war with itself, no longer undermined or threatened by the enemy within, creation at peace. It’s another version of Isaiah’s vision of the lamb and the lion lying down together.
‘I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem.’ Here’s another dimension: a whole new way of living together, humanity at peace. I know a 13 month old baby who smiles at everyone he meets. And sadly you think, how long will that last? When will that be knocked out of him? We don’t smile at everyone we meet. But in the heavenly city we will. We will because each of us will be a bringer of joy to everyone else. We will simply delight in each other.
And this city, this new human world, will be ‘as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband’. We will correspond completely to God’s hope for us. In the beginning, we were made in his image and likeness, reflecting him. We’re always in his image, but not always in his likeness. We live in ‘the land of unlikeness’. But in the new Jerusalem, the likeness will be restored to the image. Sin will be no more. God will delight in us and we will delight in him.
And so it goes on: ‘You see this city? Here God lives among men. He will make his home among them; they shall be his people, and he will be their God; his name is God-with-them.’ Yes, there will be a new world, there will be new relations among ourselves, because God will be with us. At the heart of Jerusalem was the Temple, the house of the living God, who had pitched his tent among his people and made a covenant with them. We will be unbreakably, indissolubly bonded, married to God: he with us, we with him. He in us, we in him.
Then there comes one of the most wonderful line in all Scripture: ‘He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or crying or sadness. The world of the past has gone.’
‘He will wipe away all tears from their eyes.’ That’s what a mother does to her child often enough. Don’t you think that behind the eyes of each of us, there’s a kind of build-up of tears, a great sack of them? Isn’t there, in the heart of each of us, a great bag of sorrow? Every one of us has lost something precious, everyone of us has been disappointed and hurt. Every one of us is secretly grieving over something. Every one of us knows that the people we love are going to die, and we will too. And the picture in my mind is this: when we do die and meet Christ, this sack inside us will burst, and the tears, the accumulated tears, will all pour out. And God will wipe away every one of them. How I don’t know. How the terrible evils of human history, of what we’ve done to each other over the centuries, how that’s put right, I don’t know. But the word is: ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’  God’s tender touch can do even that. ‘And death will be no more, and there will be no more mourning or crying or pain – for the former things have passed away.’
That’s our hope. This is why the little child in us still skips along, keeping our faith and love fresh. This is why the dog is straining at the leash.
So when a loved one dies, don’t just grieve. Think of what God is doing for them. Think of them entering, being added to, that city above. Generation after generation, God is at work, secretly building the new Jerusalem out of us. And one day He will reveal it to the eyes of all of us.

‘Behold, I make all things new.’ That’s how the reading ends. It’s the voice from the Throne that says this, that is God the Father. In the whole of the Bible, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, this is the last direct word of God (the Father) to humanity, to us. ‘Behold, I make all things new.’

 
Bishop Hugh Gilbert    
1 May 2013

                                                                                                      

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It seems appropriate to mention in this post, a recent Stronsay 'rare bird' sighting, namely a 'turtle dove'.  Usually associated with warmer climes such as North Africa, the Mediterranean regions, and Central Europe and Asia, I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this bird some two or three weeks ago, perched on our garden fence.

 

 

                              
                                                  Turtle Dove, Stronsay. June 2013.


The turtle dove is  mentioned numerous times in the Bible, often in connection with sacrificial  offerings to Almighty God; however it also has connotations  of innocence and gentleness, and as a name of endearment for one beloved:-

          'Deliver not to the wild beasts the soul of thy turtle-dove: forget not for ever the life of thy needy ones' (Psalms 73:19)

Here the Psalmist is calling on God not to abandon His beloved chosen people, Israel, to their enemies. A prayer of petition infused with hope, without which, the prayer - any prayer, would surely be meaningless.

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Please remember in your prayers, those young men who will be ordained to the Holy Priesthood next Saturday; thank you.

St Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for them.
Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, guide and protect them at all times.
 

 

Saint Augustine - a Saint for our time

St Augustine was born in 354 at Thagaste in North Africa. He was baptised by Bishop Ambrose at Easter 386 and ordained priest in 391. Five years later he was consecrated Bishop of Hippo. His writings and sermons have exercised a deep influence on the Church. He died on 28 August 430. He was canonised by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303. He is a 'Doctor of the Church', and his feast- day is 28 August.

The following extracts from the writings of St Augustine are taken from an anthology, ‘The Joy of the Saints’, edited by Robert Llewelyn, published by Darton, Longman and Todd, London. This anthology includes extracts from the writings of several Catholic Saints viz. St Therese of Liseux, St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Avila, and St Francis de Sales; but also includes works by Julian of Norwich, John Wesley, Martin Luther, and others.

(The bibliography indicates the source book for St Augustine’s readings, as ‘The heart at Rest – daily readings with St Augustine', edited by Dame Maura See OSB.)

      Saint Augustine of Hippo - painting by Phillip de Champaigne (French 17th century)

The two deaths

As a man you are destined to die.  Put it off as long as you like, the thing so long delayed will come at last.
There is, however, another death, from which the Lord came to deliver us: eternal death, the death of damnation with the devil and his angels.  That is the real death; the other is only a change, the leaving of the body.
Do not fear this kind, but be frightened of the other, and labour to live in such a way that after death you may live with God.
Remember that Antichrists are not only to be found among those who have gone away from us, but among many who are still in the Church. The perjurer, the adulterer, the drunkard, the trafficker in drugs, all evil-doers.
They will say, ‘But He made us like this’.  Our Creator cries out from Heaven,  ‘I made the man, not the thief, the adulterer, the miser;  all that moves in the sea, flies in the air, or walks on the earth is my work, and sings my praise’.  But does avarice praise the Lord, or drunkenness, or impurity?  Anything that does not praise him was not made by him.

Here today and gone tomorrow 

Wherever the soul of man turns, unless it turns to You, it clasps sorrow to its heart.  Even if it clings to what is lovely, if this loveliness is outside God, it has clung to sorrow, for these beautiful things would not exist without You.  Like the sun, they rise and set: they have their beginning and then they grow old and die.
Let me praise You for these things, my God who made them all, but do not let the love of them be like glue to fix them to my soul.
In these things there is nowhere to rest, because they do not last, they pass away beyond the reach of our senses. Indeed, we cannot lay firm hold on them even when they are with us.
In this world one thing passes away, and another takes its place.  But does the Word of God pass away?  Make your dwelling in Him.  Entrust to Him whatever you have, for all you possess is from Him.  In Him is the peace that cannot be disturbed, and He will not withhold Himself from your love if you do not withhold your love from Him.

                   Vision of Saint Augustine - Fra Filippo Lippi ( c1450)

Treasure-hunting

Let the Lord your God be your hope – seek for nothing else from Him, but let Him Himself be your hope. There are people who hope from Him riches or perishable and transitory honours, in short they hope to get from God things which are not God Himself. Seek for Him alone, and despising everything else, make your way to Him. Forget other things, remember Him; leave other things behind, stretch out to Him.  Let Him be your hope, who is guiding you to your destination.
Where in the end does coveting this world’s goods lead you? You want a farm, then an estate, then you shut your neighbours out and covet their possessions.  You extend your desires till you reach the shore. Having made the earth your own, perhaps you want Heaven, too?
Leave all your desires. He who made heaven and earth is more beautiful than all; He who made all things is better than all; He will be to you everything you love. Learn to love the Creator in the creature, in the work Him who made it. Don’t let what was made take such a hold of you that you lose Him by whom you yourself were made.

The heart at rest

Ask the beauty of the earth, the beauty of the sky. Question the order of the stars, the sun whose brightness lights the day, the moon whose splendour softens the gloom of night. Ask of the living creatures that move in the waves, that roam the earth, that fly in the heavens.
Question all these and they will answer, ‘Yes, we are beautiful’. Their very loveliness is their confession of God: but who made these lovely mutable things, but He who is Himself unchangeable beauty?
Too late have I loved You, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, too late have I loved You.
I sought for You abroad, but You were within me though I was far from You. Then You touched me and I longed for your peace, and now all my hope is in your great mercy.
Give what You command and then command what You will.
You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless till it rests in You. Who will grant me to rest content in You? To whom shall I turn for the gift of your coming into my heart so that I may forget all the wrong I have done, and embrace You alone, my only good?

                   Saint Augustine in his study - Sandro Botticelli (1480)

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'Our Lady of Good Counsel, pray for us, and guide and protect our Church and our Holy Father, Pope Francis' - Amen.
 
 

Holy Week music - ancient and modern.

 
Today is Easter Sunday, the day we celebrate Our Lord's Resurrection from the dead  - the greatest Feast-day of the Christian Church; the victory of life over death, good over evil. St Paul tells us that if Christ is not risen from the dead, our faith is all in vain.   

                     
                 Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat

St Mark  XVI  v. 1-7
             'At that time, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, brought sweet spices, that coming, they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to the sepulchre, the sun now being risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back; for it was very great.  And entering into the sepulchre,they saw a young man sitting on the right side clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished. Who saith to them: Be not affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here, behold the place where they laid Him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him, as He told you.'                          

A day for great rejoicing, alleluia!

http://youtu.be/C3TUWU_yg4s     - Alleluia Chorus, from Handel's Messiah, sung by the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, with the Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Stephen Cleobury. Truly magnificent!

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Here on the small island of  Stronsay in Orkney, we have a small group of singing enthusiasts who meet weekly to enjoy a musical evening under the guidance of our  musical director Michael Lee, who selflessly gives of his time and expertise - a two hour boat trip each way from Kirkwall in all weathers, plus an enforced overnight stay on Stronsay, to guide us through the intricacies of a varied and sometimes challenging musical menu.

As it happens, this includes a very beautiful short work by Peter Tchaikovsky, entitled the 'Crown of Roses', which is particularly relevant to Holy Week. I cannot pretend that our performance bears comparison to the one below, but on a really good night we persuade ourselves that we might be making progress!

'The Crown of Roses'- by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

When Jesus Christ was yet a child
He had a garden small and wild
Wherein he cherished roses fair
And wove them into garlands there.

Now once as summer-time drew nigh
There came a troop of children by.
And seeing roses on the tree
With shouts they plucked them merrily.

"Do you bind roses in your hair?"
They cried in scorn to Jesus there.
The boy said humbly: "Take I pray,
All but the naked thorns away."

Then of the thorns they made a crown,
And with rough fingers pressed it down.Till on his forehead fair and young,
Red drops of blood, like roses sprung.

http://youtu.be/JvERqPHC5_8       -  Sung by Coro ARS XXI in the Assumption of the Virgin Cathedral, Jaen, Spain.

N.B. Interestingly, earlier this week our Holy Father, Pope Francis, formally approved the cause for beatification  of the Bishop of Jaen, martyred in the Spanish Civil War

                       

                    'Assumption of the Virgin' Cathedral, Jaen, Spain.
                                             
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Finally, a simple but rather beautiful contemporary work, 'Nostra gloria e la croce' composed by Marco Frisina,  and particularly appropriate for Holy Week.

http://youtu.be/HWtCwUMaDjo 

'NOSTRA GLORIA È LA CROCE DI CRISTO,
IN LEI LA VITTORIA;
IL SIGNORE È LA NOSTRA SALVEZZA,
LA VITA, LA RISURREZIONE.'

Non c'è amore più grande
di chi dona la sua vita.
O Croce tu doni la vita
e splendi di gloria immortale.

O Albero della vita
che ti innalzi come un vessillo,
tu guidaci verso la meta,
o segno potente di grazia.

Tu insegni ogni sapienza
e confondi ogni stoltezza;
in te contempliamo l'amore,
da te riceviamo la vita.

          

                                    Mgr. Marco Frisina


'YouTube' has a wide selection of sacred works composed by Mgr. Marco Frisina, the Director of the Pastoral Worship Centre at the Vatican.

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'Under the old law men might have doubted whether God loved them with a tender love; but after having seen Him shed His blood on an infamous gibbet and die for us, how can we doubt His loving us with infinite tenderness and affection?'
(Thoughts from St. Alphonsus - March 31)
                         
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Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, guide and protect our Holy Father, Pope Francis.