The Thoughts of His Heart

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Trial, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword? As Scripture says: “For your sake we are being slain all the day long; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” Yet in all this we are more than conquerors because of him who has loved us. (Romans 8:35 ff.)

On this Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, my reading and meditation of these days has taken on deeper meaning, reflecting on the graduality of our life  in Christ. St. Catherine of Siena speaks of steps onto a bridge and St. Bernard of Clairvaux speaks of a natural progression applied to the supernatural. The Cross is the bridge and our first step, contrition, has us kiss the Feet of Christ. By longing or desire for Him alone, we climb the second step to be nourished by the flood from His open side, from His Heart. As St. Bonaventure says, we find shelter there as doves in the cleft of the rock.

With the absolute confidence of a small child, we know that nothing, but nothing matters when we are sheltered at His side.

Save us, O Savior of the world. In the shadow of your wings we find rescue!

Defend us in Battle

While Joshua was near Jericho, he raised his eyes and saw one who stood facing him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you one of us or of our enemies?” He replied, “Neither. I am the captain of the host of the Lord and I have just arrived.” Then Joshua fell prostrate to the ground in worship, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” The captain of the host of the Lord replied to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy.” And Joshua obeyed. (Joshua 5:13-15)

I wanted in the worst wat to find the quote but failed. It talked about the need which even angels have of a body in order to act on our behalf. It is to say that Joshua could have touched the captain of the host of the Lord and felt the edge of his sword. Raphael was nobody's dream but rather brother Azariah, flesh and bone. I need not go on, but we all need to think again about how near God is to us and through the ministrations of His holy messengers and our constant guardians.

Praying with Esther

A dear bishop friend from Ukraine included me in an email to a list of devout German-speaking Catholics asking for their prayerful support on the eve of the encounter with the president of the Russian Federation. He used an Old Testament image in formulating his request, that Pope Francis would be like the prophet Nathan, calling out King David for his sins of adultery and murder. I guess if you come from a Byzantine background of symphonia the analogy would be natural and apparent. In any case, the bishop does well so to pray, that the Holy Father be inspired to prophetic words today.

Personally, my Old Testament image is rather that of the Book of Esther. Queen Esther requested that all her people fast and pray, as she prepared to face the lion, her king. Esther, in effect, calls the king to account and through her intervention saves the Chosen People.

I am praying with Esther today, that she would succeed in saving her people from the king's wrath. Let the prophet speak and confound our enemies. May the Mother of God cloak Ukraine in her protective mantle!

SANCTA MARIA, STELLA ORIENTIS, FILIOS TUOS ADIUVA!

Ad Orientem... Naturally

For the Memorial of Saint Ephrem:

SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Ephrem, deacon
(Sermo 3, de fine et admonitione 2. 4-5: Opera, ed. Lamy, 3, 216-222)

The divine plan for the world is the mirror of the spiritual world.

Lord, shed upon our darkened souls the brilliant light of your wisdom so that we may be enlightened and serve you with renewed purity. Sunrise marks the hour for men to begin their toil, but in our souls, Lord, prepare a dwelling for the day that will never end. Grant that we may come to know the risen life and that nothing may distract us from the delights you offer. Through our unremitting zeal for you, Lord, set upon us the sign of your day that is not measured by the sun.

In your sacrament we daily embrace you and receive you into our bodies; make us worthy to experience the resurrection for which we hope. We have had your treasure hidden within us ever since we received baptismal grace; it grows ever richer at your sacramental table. Teach us to find our joy in your favor! Lord, we have within us your memorial, received at your spiritual table; let us possess it in its full reality when all things shall be made new.

We glimpse the beauty that is laid up for us when we gaze upon the spiritual beauty your immortal will now creates within our mortal selves.

Savior, your crucifixion marked the end of your mortal life; teach us to crucify ourselves and make way for our life in the Spirit. May your resurrection, Jesus, bring true greatness to our spiritual self and may your sacraments be the mirror wherein we may know that self.

Savior, your divine plan for the world is a mirror for the spiritual world; teach us to walk in that: world as spiritual men.

Lord, do not deprive our souls of the spiritual vision of you nor our bodies of your warmth and sweetness. The mortality lurking in our bodies spreads corruption through us; may the spiritual waters of your love cleanse the effects of mortality from our hearts Grant, Lord, that we may hasten to our true city and, like Moses on the mountaintop, possess it now in vision.

Are they many who will be save?

For he was a follower of the Mighty One,

  and in the time of Moses he did devoted service,

he and Caleb son of Jephunneh,

  by opposing the whole community,

by preventing the people from sinning,

  and by silencing the mutters of rebellion.

Hence these two alone were preserved

  out of six hundred thousand men on the march,

and brought into their inheritance,

  into a land where milk and honey flow. (Sirach 46:7-8)

Just Joshua and Caleb out of 600,000 entered the promised land. Sometimes it causes me to tremble...

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI 

St. Boniface, pray for us!

 I have been recommending Germany to its great first apostle and martyr today on his feast day. May St. Boniface put in a good word before the Heavenly Throne and may the Lord be so gracious as to send them a third apostle to promote the establishment of His glorious reign among this people He continues to call His own!

The Tyranny of Liberalism

I just had a minor "aha moment" as I was beginning a new book with the above title (review in due course). My moment came as a confluence of several impressions: all the positive feedback and great pictures coming out of Sacra Liturgia in New York; the carping in the press about the same and their disdain for my friend Cardinal Burke; Cardinal Sarah's upbeat letter to the same conference; an aside, just for me from a very pious priest expressing his doubts concerning the possibility of winning over most Catholics for the EF. As I say, I just started the book and two notes struck me: all society is permeated by the errors of liberalism, even conservative folk, as another conversation with a fine layman brought home to me, and in a liberal society the one and only court of appeal seems to be "expertise", whatever that might be.

QUARE FREMUERUNT GENTES: It comes as no surprise at any time in history that people arch their backs, but this notion of the all pervasiveness of liberalism as a denial of the true source of our human dignity in our God and Lord Jesus Christ, makes a lot of sense.