On the Anniversary of His Election...

O GOD, the Pastor and Ruler of all the faithful: mercifully look upon thy servant Leo, whom thou hast chosen to be Shepherd and Pope of thy Church; grant unto him to be in word and conduct a wholesome example to the people committed to his charge; that he with them may attain at last to the crown of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen

A Study of St. Luke's Gospel

Several years ago I offered a verse-by-verse study of St. Luke's Gospel, and all twenty-one sessions were uploaded to YouTube. Here is the link for that study.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ethf4jg2bo&feature=youtu.be

Childhood Memories

As we’re firmly in the month of May my mind has gone back to my boyhood years on the family dairy farm in Connecticut.

It’s still pleasant enough at the moment in Texas - the heat hasn’t invaded us yet - but for me there was no time quite like May and June in the beautiful Litchfield Hills seventy years ago, when it was woodlands interspersed with farms anchoring the rolling landscape.

From the time I can remember I had farm chores to do. Even the youngest children had calves to feed, eggs to gather, and by the time I was ten years old the job of milking some of the cows could be entrusted to me.

In the summer there were always hay fields beckoning. The first cutting came in late spring/early summer, then the better hay from the second cutting in the height of summer, and if conditions were right there could be a third cutting in late summer/early fall.

Of course, it wasn’t all work. I had a couple of hundred acres of woods and fields in which to wander and explore, and throughout the woods there were springs which fed a beautiful little brook which cut through the farm.

It was that stream of water which nourished my imagination, and I could trace it on a map which showed it flowing into the Nepaug River, then joining the Farmington River which fed into the mighty Connecticut River, eventually emptying into Long Island Sound and out into the ocean.

I spent countless hours playing in that little brook, especially when the month of May started to give way to June, with the banks of the stream covered with the purple blooms of water irises. I would set small sticks of wood afloat, and then picture them eventually finding their way out into the ocean itself. I doubt any of them made it that far, but in my imagination they did.

It was there, in that little stream, as a little boy, that I had the earliest of what might be called my first “theological thoughts.” The marvel of water coming endlessly from upstream gave me a beginning of the concept of the generosity of God and the vastness of His creation. The thought of the water that I had just touched then moving downstream, into the ocean itself, made me wonder what lay beyond the portion of God’s world which I knew so well.

Anyway, that’s what comes to my mind as we get into the month of May.  Yes, certainly it's Mary's month, but I'm sure the Blessed Mother is patient enough to endure my happy childhood memories!

The English Martyrs

The English Martyrs include 284 men and women who gave their lives during the 16th and 17th centuries. They were martyred simply because they remained steadfast in their Catholic faith. What had happened?

King Henry VIII had proclaimed himself supreme head of the Church in England, claiming for himself and his successors power over his subjects not only in civil matters, but also in all things spiritual. He took to himself a spiritual power that can belong only to the Pope as the Vicar of Christ and Successor of St. Peter. The Catholics at that time wanted to be loyal subjects of the Crown, but their consciences could not allow them to grant the power of spiritual supremacy. It is as though, in the United States, the president and Congress took upon themselves the power to determine what we as Catholics believe, and how we worship. We could not allow Congress to pass laws that changed the Church’s teaching about the Mass, or what we believe about God. But this was what had happened in England, and it led many people to face death courageously rather than act against their consciences and deny their Catholic faith.

This firm attitude in defense of their freedom of conscience and of their faith in the truth of the Holy Catholic Church is identical in all these Martyrs, although they were a diverse group of people – priests, religious, laymen, housewives and mothers, some highly educated, some very simple labourers. But they all shared the same faith, and the same determination to keep that faith – and for that, they were put to death. And this persecution was not only under Henry VIII, but it continued under Elizabeth I and her successors, all the way into the Commonwealth under Cromwell.

The torments they endured were horrible. Most of them were killed in extremely violent ways – the priests, for instance, were hanged, drawn and quartered. Others were tortured for long periods of time before their deaths. But they all remained steadfast in their Catholic faith, and they died praying for their executioners, and even praying for the monarch who had ordered their deaths.

O Merciful God, who, when thy Church on earth was torn apart by the ravages of sin, didst raise up men and women in England who witnessed to their faith with courage and constancy: give unto thy Church that peace which is thy will, and grant that those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven and be partakers together in the vision of thy glory; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Pictured: Stained glass in the 

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption  

and the English Martyrs, Cambridge.

The One Road

Jesus said: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.

- St. John 14:6

There are many things in this life that offer the promise of life - new medicines, new diets, new products - and people are constantly chasing after things that offer a supposedly better, fuller life. But Jesus Christ came to turn our hearts away from putting our trust in those things that appear to promise life, and He claims our hearts entirely for Himself alone.

Jesus said plainly that He is the Way, that He is the Truth, and that He is the Life. He is the only Way from death to life, from hell to heaven, from the devil to God. He is the only Truth that overcomes the Lie that kills us. He is the only Life that is eternal life.

All other roads, in fact, do lead ultimately to the same place; namely, death and destruction. These other roads may try to provide nice scenery along the way, and they might be very broad and well-traveled, and they might be filled with crowds of very nice, unobjectionable people, but the Lord Jesus teaches us with His own lips and in His own words, that there is only one road that leads to eternal life with God, and that is Christ Himself, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

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Image: "Christ in Majesty"

from a 12th century English illuminated manuscript

Rest in Peace, Bishop Gracida

BISHOP RENE HENRY GRACIDA, a faithful bishop and servant of God, died April 30 at age 102.

We pray for the repose of his soul, and give thanks for his life of loving witness to our Lord Jesus Christ.

O God, who hast made thy servant René Henry to flourish among the Ministers of Apostolic Succession, grant we beseech thee, that he may also be joined with them in a perpetual fellowship; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor

St. Athanasius, the great champion of the Catholic Faith, was born at Alexandria about the year 296, of Christian parents. Educated under Alexander, who became the bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius made great progress in learning and virtue, eventually going into the desert to spend some time in retreat with St. Anthony.

In 319, Athanasius became a deacon, and as a young cleric he was called upon to take an active part against the rising heresy being put forth by Arius, an ambitious priest of the Alexandrian Church, who denied the Divinity of Christ. This was to be the life struggle of St. Athanasius.

In 325, he assisted his bishop at the Council of Nicaea, where his influence began to be felt. Five months later Alexander died. On his death bed he recommended St. Athanasius as his successor. In consequence of this, Athanasius was unanimously elected Patriarch in 326.

His refusal to tolerate the Arian heresy was the cause of many trials and persecutions for St. Athanasius. He spent seventeen of the forty-six years of his episcopate in exile. After a life of virtue and suffering, this intrepid champion of the Catholic Faith, the greatest man of his time, died in peace on May 2, 373.

Everliving God, whose servant Saint Athanasius bore witness to the mystery of the Word made flesh for our salvation: give us grace, with all thy Saints, to contend for the truth and to grow into the likeness of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.