PASSING TO THE FATHER

 

Sad as it is to lose a powerful figure in our Church, we rejoice that POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI has gone to the Father.

His papacy was short, (almost eight years), and yet he contributed much to Church doctrine and will be considered one of the six most significant Catholic theologians of the 20th century, along with Karl Rahner, S.J., Yves Congar, O.P., Romano Guardini (one of my favorites), Henri de Lubac, S.J., and Hans Urs von Balthasar. His published works include over 60 books, several of which we use for lessons at Matins.

For me his greatest contribution is his great devotion to the Eucharist, placing the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist at the very heart of  our Catholic faith.  In “God Is Charity” he wrote: the Eucharist draws us into Jesus’ act of self-oblation…we enter into the very dynamic of His self-giving.

Of course as Benedictines we were thrilled when he chose the name of our founder. “The name ‘Benedict’ also calls to mind the extraordinary figure of the great ‘Patriarch of Western Monasticism. This co-patron of Europe was “a fundamental reference point for European unity and a powerful reminder of the indispensable Christian roots of his culture and civilization.”

Regarding new saints in the Church, Pope, Benedict canonized 45 new saints, including Damien de Veuster of Molokai (2008) and Kateri Tekakwitha (2012).  He added two doctors to the Church in 2012, my patroness, St. Hildegard of Bingen and the Spanish priest St. John Ávila.

He also had the unique distinction of starting the cause of canonization of his predecessor, John Paul II, presiding at his beatification in 2011. (St. John Paul II was canonized in 2014 by Pope Francis.)

 Some in the Church predict that Benedict will one day be declared a Doctor of the Church. 

“I don’t believe being pope is a proof of sanctity, nor is it sufficient grounds for canonization. But being Joseph Ratzinger is,” said  the founder and editor of Ignatius Press, Father Joseph Fessio, S.J..  His doctorate was directed by Professor Joseph Ratzinger at the University of Regensburg. “I don’t know anyone who has worked closely with him who does not recognize his holiness and his brilliance. In addition to hoping for santo subito, I look forward to his being declared a Doctor of the Church.”     

The American write and analyst, George Weigel said that Benedict was “one of the most creative Catholic theologians of modern times and arguably the greatest papal preacher since Pope St. Gregory the Great. In the more than 30 years I knew him and was in conversation with him, I found him to be a consummate Christian gentleman, a man of deep faith and sweet temper. It has been my privilege to have been taught by and to work with many brilliant men and women; no one I’ve ever met had a more lucid or orderly mind than Joseph Ratzinger. He believed that the truth of the Gospel was the truth of the world, and he bent every effort to help others understand that truth.”

This Holy Father dedicated his last years in a “self-giving” as he spent them  penance and prayer, a gift to the Church, which perhaps will never be fully appreciated- for its hiddeness.

Painting:  Jose Luis Castrillo- Spain

MAN of the YEAR

 

The “Man of the Year” is in many people’s minds, Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. He has even been compared to Churchill. There is no doubt that he has led his country through the worst conflict Europe has seen since WWII.

The Ukrainians are fighting for freedom not only for themselves, but for us all, and may their unwavering courage be an example to us all, that what matters most in life is not material wealth but rather care of one another and of our homeland. 

May the light of Christ shine brightly on the Ukrainians and all who long for freedom. 

And on this feast of the Holy Family, we pray for the families who have been separated at this time due to war or conflict of any sort.

(Artist:  Stanislav Lunin- Ukraine)

FLIGHT

 

StanislawOstoja-Chrostowski- Poland, 1930 

Through every precinct of the wintry city
Squadroned iron resounds upon the streets;
Herod’s police
Make shudder the dark steps of the tenements
At the business about to be done.

Neither look back upon Thy starry country,
Nor hear what rumors crowd across the dark
Where blood runs down these holy walls,
Nor frame a childish blessing with Thy hand
Towards that fiery spiral of exulting souls!

Go, Child of God, upon the singing desert,
Where, with eyes of flame,
The roaming lion keeps thy road from harm.

–Thomas Merton, from Thirty Poems (1944)

CHRISTMAS PRAYER

                                                                   

                                                    A CHRISTMAS PRAYER

(George MacDonald)

Loving looks the large-eyed cow,
Loving stares the long-eared ass
At Heaven's glory in the grass!
Child, with added human birth
Come to bring the child of earth
Glad repentance, tearful mirth,
And a seat beside the hearth
At the Father's knee—
Make us peaceful as Thy cow;
Make us patient as Thine ass;
Make us quiet as Thou art now;
Make us strong as Thou wilt be.
Make us always know and see
We are His as well as Thou.

 

 Woonbo Kim Ki-chang, "The Birth of Jesus Christ", a Christian missionary during the Korean war (1952-53- Ink and color on silk).  This image is unique  as it portrays women at the birth of Christ. Dressed in traditional dress (Hanbok), the women carry food and supplies for the new mother.

CHRISTMAS

 

Taras Lozynskyy (Ukrainian- on glass)

“God’s voice resounds in stillness, attentiveness, and silence. It is “only in peace that we can enter profoundly into ourselves and recognize the authentic desires the Lord has placed in our hearts.”

Many times it is not easy to enter into that peace of heart because we are so busy with this, that and the other, the entire day. But, please, calm yourself down a little bit, enter into yourself, within yourself. Stop for two minutes. When we allow ourselves to be calm, God’s voice comes immediately. He is waiting for us to do this.“

                                                                                Pope Francis, December 2022

PEACE TO THE WORLD - THE EVE

 

                            “Three Angels” (1983) by Vitaliy Lytvyn (Ukrainian artist)

                                                            Toronto, Canada

“Peace means above all the absence of war, which for us means winning, getting the enemy to go away. Peace in our imagination means stopping these military actions. Stop killing us. That will be the first step towards authentic peace. 

But we know that peace is something deeper than the absence of war. It is not just about winning in war, but winning the very spirit of war, the war in its causes, the source of authentic and lasting peace.” 

                                                          Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk

Many Church leaders across the world are asking for  a temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine on Christmas. 

“As people of faith and conscience, believing in the sanctity of all life on this planet, we call for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine. In the spirit of the truce that occurred in 1914 during the First World War, we urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end through supporting calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world’s ecosystems and annihilate all of God’s creation.”

LIFE'S ABUNDANCE- 2 DAYS BEFORE JESUS' BIRTH

 

The shaking, the awakening: with these, life merely begins to become capable of Advent. It is precisely in the severity of this awakening, in the helplessness of coming to consciousness, in the wretchedness of experiencing our limitations that the golden threads running between heaven and earth during this season reach us; the threads that give the world a hint of the abundance to which it is called, the abundance to which it is capable.    Father Alfred Delp, S.J.,  Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons and Prison                                                                         Writings - 1941-1944 

The whole country seems to be in a lock-down again, but this time with bitter cold and for many there will be no Christmas with family and loved ones. Right now outside here it is 11 degrees, though sunny, and our new heat system seems to be taking a break with 56 degrees in the main part of the monastery. Then as we get system up and running there is a county-wide power outage, lasting hours, due to some crises on the mainland.  But we must remember those who have it so much harder- those with none of the necessities for survival.

Speaking near a large Nativity scene in Paul VI Hall on Dec. 21, the Pope Francis recalled an encounter that he had with Ukrainian war refugees in which the children seemed unable to smile.

“On this feast of God becoming a child, let us think of Ukrainian children. … These children bear the tragedy of that war, which is so inhuman, so harsh. Let us think of the Ukrainian people this Christmas, without electricity, without heating, without the main things necessary to survive, and let us pray to the Lord to bring them peace as soon as possible.”

Art: Ostap Lozynsky  (RIP)  Ukrainian