Calvert House
The Catholic Center at the University of Chicago
May 30, 2004, 11:00am, Bond Chapel
Pentecost Sunday(C) Domenica Pentecostes

Antiphonum ad Introitum, When The Day of Pentecost, BFW 184, Psalm 104, Grail Text
Sprinkling Rite, Springs of Water, BFW 144, Dan 3:77-79, NAB
Gloria, De Angelis
Psalmus, Lord Send Out Your Spirit, BFW 131, Psalm 104, Lectionary 63
Sequentia, Veni Sancte Spiritus, Graduale Simplex`
Antiphona ad Acclamationis, Triple Alleluia, BFW 142
Antiphona ad offertorium, Alleluia Psalm I, BFW 186, Psalm 68
Sanctus, De Angelis
Post Consecrationem, Mortem tuam
Amen,
Agnus Dei , De Angelis
ad Communionem, Spiritus qui a Patre procedit, alleluia, Graduale Simplex, Psalm 78, Grail Text
Ite missa est, O Holy Spirit, By Whose Breath, RS 616

BFW= By Flowing Waters
RS= Ritual Song, GIA

I would like to pay tribute to the singers, the schola that has dedicated themselves to the 11:00am Mass these past two years. It has been an honor to sing and to pray with them. It was a pleasure to hear how well the congregation has progressed. They filled the chapel with their song, and even followed the lead of the choir, observing the dynamics set by the antiphon at the Offertory. The choir picture above was take last winter when Cardinal George came to celebrate with the Calvert House Community.

It is been a great joy. I will miss this part of Chicago. Thanks especially to Ann and Dawn who led the choir in my absences. Dawn will be continuing with the choir in the coming year.

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... is going slow. Threw out the back this morning. Finally found my brace this evening. Still, with help from one of the choir members, we packed 33 boxes today. It will be Motrin tonight.

Tomorrow is my last time at Bond Chapel. I will miss them.

Happy Pentecost everyone!

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It was 1985. I was director of Music at St. Edward Catholic Church. Doing packing today I came across one of my old journals. This entry was dated January 21, 1985:

The challenge of the pastoral musician and liturgist is not to come up with new songs and new forms all of the time, but to do what you have with great care and beauty.

Last week in my journal I was developing some other thoughts about liturgical music in the context of interviewing possible music directors.

It is occurring to me that liturgical music seems to be practiced in parishes in our country in two main categories.

The first category: Music is chosen to please us. It is supposed to make us happy, to make us comfortable. It confirms us in our current state. It fulfills us. It may even confirm us in some of our prejudices. It entertains us, it tickles our fancy. It appeals to something deep in our emotions, brings a lump to our throat, or a tear to our eyes. It pleases us and makes us feel at home.

The second category: This music is designed to take us somewhere else, to lift us from our present state and give us a taste of another world. It is supposed to challenge us and convict us. It is supposed to be a vehicle whereby we might give ourselves. This music puts us in relationship, not just with the people in the room, but with the people of the world and with all the cloud of witnesses throughout the ages who have gone before us marked with the sign of the cross.

This is rough thinking. The thesis has not been developed enough. I have only begun chewing on this. The categories seem a bit too black and white. Things are not all that clear. For example, “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” may fit into both categories. Examining individual songs may not be the way to go, but it may be best to look at the whole parish repertoire and approach to worship in general.

In general, it is my opinion that most parishes in this country are more comfortable with the first category.

Any thoughts?

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I was pleased to find this article via other bloggers. Thanks to Rex Olandi, and Aris.

It has some interesting suggestions. One that resonated well with me was the very first suggestion to turn down the volume.

The Microphone has done more damage than good to parish worship. This is a realization that came to me slowly over the years, but I am firmly convinced now. It the parish where I was pastor for seven years we eliminated the cantor for everything but the psalm and the communion. Everything else was led by the organ. Of course that all changed after I left.

At St. Edward I had an experience that confirmed this. Last Christmas I presided at two masses there. The music and the liturgy were beautiful. After communion there was a meditation sung in the choir loft by the choir and two vocalists. It was too loud and even distorted coming through the microphones. It was jarring. It destroyed everthing they had done so far. Why did they even need microphones in the loft?

This is what makes it so difficult in choosing a music director. How do I find someone who is competant in organ and voice who also has a care for the volunteers in the choir, and also has a care and concern for the community at worship and has no need to entertain them?

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Here are are some pictures of St. Edward Parish I took this week on a visit. I am looking forward to working here.

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Back home for a brief respite. Greetings from Chicago. I am taking the day off. Our deacon and I are going to a White Sox game. I have been to Wrigley field many times but this is my first time at the South Side American League park.

[UPDATE: Excellent game, The Whites Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 4-0]

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A Precious Blood Companion reports they took the article from my blog and used it for their meeting on Monday, May 24th, The Feast of Mary Help of Christians. I am delighted. I offer their experience as a vehicle for on-going discussion.

The article is here.

This is what our Precious Blood Companions did:

We started with Evening Prayer II from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When we had prayed the psalms and listened to the reading, we turned to your article on the Madonna of the Precious Blood to which I added three reflection questions.

1. How does the Blood of Christ draw you to a relationship with Mary?
2. What kind of response does the image of Mary as the Madonna of the Precious Blood inspire in you? (I also brought copies of the various images that appeared on your blog.)
3. What does it mean to you to be a "living chalice"?

We took 10-15 minutes for everyone to read the article silently and reflect on it. We had a lively conversation - good sharing and then we ended with the Magnificat, some intercessions, the Our Father and closing prayer and a blessing from Fr. Joe.

Keep the discussion going. How about responding to one of their questions in the comments?

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Today was spent visiting the parish. I become pastor of St. Edward Parish in Newark, CA on August 1st. I interviewed two applicants for the music job, visited the school and spent some time speaking with the principal, and then had dinner with the current pastor and with the provincial.

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Ahem. More that 200 people stopped by here in that past couple of days and only three people posted promises of prayer for Mike and David to see when they log on here from Iraq. Email addresses are not required, and you can post anonymously. Are y'all praying? A few posts here will give some encouragement to a few young men serving your country. Ahem. Ahem.

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The highlight of the recently finished International Board of Directors Meeting of Retrouvaille International was Saturday morning when Bishop Vigneron of the Diocese of Oakland came to celebrate the Eucharist with us.

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Mark and Betty Squier serve as the Resource Enrichment Team along with Fr. Jerry Foley. They are here in California serving on the International Board for Retrouvaille. All the while their sons are serving in Iraq. Recently Mike got a chance to cross paths with his brother Dave over in Kirkuk. Please keep these guys in prayer, and say one for their parents too. Mark and Betty are going to send this web address to Dave and Mike so they can see this and I am sure they would appreciate seeing you post prayers for them and their buddies over there.

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It is a very busy time. I am at the Board of Directors Meeting for Retrouvaille International here in Pleasanton, CA. Meeting starts at 7:30am tomorrow and finishes with Night Prayer at 9:30pm, so not much blogging to be expected.

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I took this picture on his birthday last year during an audience the Holy Father had with the Precious Blood Community on the Canonization of St. Maria de Mattias.

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Something to remember for this month.

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This is the image that St. Gaspar took with him on every mission.

This is a photo of the original painting after it was restored. It hangs in the St. Gaspar Museum, Albano, Italy.

This is a modern statue. It stands in the Cloister at Abbey of San Felice, Giano 'del Umbria, Italy. San Felice is the Motherhouse of the Precious Blood Missionaries.

This image hangs in the Precious Blood Spiritual Center, Columbia, PA

This image is from Peru. It hangs in the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, O'Fallon, MO.

This statute stands in the Province Center, Pacific Province, San Leandro, CA

This is a wood carving that sits on my desk here in Chicago. I purchased the statute in 2001 in a little gift shop that is on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

This is a embroidered banner. It hangs in my bedroom and it travels with me on every mission.

Here is my latest article for Precious Blood Family. This month it is on the Madonna of The Precious Blood.

Madonna of the Precious Blood
by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, CPPS

Blood might be something we think about in medicinal terms if we are checking our cholesterol, or it could be part of the entertainment culture in movies that portray violence in graphic reality while we sit comfortably in our theatres. Maybe occasionally we think of Blood as gift and we treat it as a commodity that can be donated.

The gift of Jesus' Blood is an incredible and ineffable mystery that we seek to express in a variety of images. This month we pay special devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, that living chalice that by obedience becomes the human home for that divine blood to be formed as the creator of the universe takes human flesh and blood and pitches his tent among us.

The traditional image of the Madonna of the Precious Blood was a painting by Italian artist Pompeo Batone (1708-1787). St. Gaspar asked the painter Andrea Pozzi(1) to add a chalice to the child's hand and to add clothing. In a recent restoration of the painting the clothing has been removed, but the chalice remains. This image traveled with St. Gaspar on every mission and became the focus for his initial preaching. In various letters you find him giving instructions on how the image is to be copied. He insisted that the image should be beautiful, not sad, and that the great gift should be evident. She is the means by which our devotion to Christ remains human, and we experience his love and his gift in our daily experience.

In the rule of 1841 it is noted that it is the custom of our Congregation that each of our churches has an altar in which the faithful may venerate The Blessed Virgin who gives us this divine Child holding in his right hand this sacred chalice showing it to his Mother. Our Holy Mother invites all sinners to take for ourselves this "divine medicine" in order to heal us of our sins and to immerse ourselves in a life of virtue and grace.

Our Congregation has venerated our Holy Mother under a variety of titles. St. Gaspar placed the congregation under the protection of Mary, Help of Christians (May 24) and Venerable Merlini promoted devotion to her under this title. Francis de Sales Brunner who brought the CPPS missionaries to the United States was devoted to the Holy Virgin under the titles of Mother of God, and Sorrowful Mother. Our Missionaries in Guatemala promote devotion to her under the title in the native Quecha language. Her name, reflective of a Quecha ritual means literally, the Lady who gives us to drink. The Adorers of the Precious Blood promote the devotion under the title Mary, Woman of the New Covenant and celebrate her feast on September 15.

We live in an inhospitable world uncommitted to a reverence for life. Too many people still separate themselves from the feast she offers, and she continues to present this world to Jesus with the words, "they have no wine." Then she offers us the cup and says, "Do whatever he tells you." The grace of our salvation is God's work yet she remains "a vital participant, a central figure and the first recipient"(2) She invites us to the Feast of this new covenant where we take and drink the Blood of the new and everlasting Covenant. In this we become living chalices as well, and continue to offer the world this remedy from darkness sharing the experience of relationship and belonging to the Body of Christ.

NOTES
(1)A letter November 1825 Gaspar writes: "I do not know who the painter was, in Rome, who depicted my Madonna. The one that added the Chalice to it is Mr. Pozzi; but the image was carried on the Missions by other Missionaries who are already deceased."
(2)Robert Schreiter, CPPS

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The White-robed Army of Martyrs Praise You
by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S.

This is the second in a series of articles on the praises of the Te Deum. In a letter to Fr. Santarelli in May of 1827, St. Gaspar, reflecting on the glory of the believer united with God, erupts into a Te Deum-type litany. Here we celebrate the glorious witness of the martyrs who have gone before us.

In the everyday Greek of the eastern end of the Roman empire, martyr simply means witness. From the earliest centuries, Christians have given the word martyr a distinctive meaning-a martyr is one who dies for their belief that Jesus Christ is Lord. Paul refers to Stephen as a martyr in a speech recorded in chapter 20 of the Acts of the Apostles. Our dictionaries reflect this, defining a martyr as “a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion,” along with a wider meaning, “a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle.”

The white robe comes from the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 6:9-11, “those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of God” are given white robes. In Revelation 7, those who have survived the great time of distress and persecution have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. The description of the martyrs as an army reflects the battle imagery of Revelation.

From the earliest days, women and men of all ages have been martyrs. Agnes (January 21), Agatha (February 5) and Lucy (December 13) were very young. Irenaeus of Lyons (June 28) and Ignatius of Antioch (October 17) lived full lives— their letters have come down to us from the second century. We honor all of the apostles as martyrs, with the exception of John, who died in exile. In the first centuries, popes (Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius and Cyprian), bishops and deacons (Lawrence August 10, Vincent, January 22) were martyrs. Rich and poor, slave and free (Felicity and Perpetua, March 7), people from all classes of society have been martyrs. We proclaim our unity with these martyrs in Eucharistic Prayer I, which lists several of their names.

Sometimes entire families have been martyrs. Missionaries and catechists have been martyrs (Boniface, June 5, and the martyrs of Japan and Korea.) Those who have stood up for the teachings of Jesus in countries that have supposedly been Christian for centuries have been martyrs (Stanislaus, April 11, Thomas à Becket, December 29).

Tertullian of Carthage wrote to the martyrs near the end of the second century. His praise of the martyrs and their enduring gift to the church is summed up in one memorable sentence: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians” from his Apology.

As Christianity spread in Asia and Africa, converts and missionaries together became martyrs. Among the martyrs commemorated as saints are those of Japan (February 5 and September 28), Uganda (June 3), Korea (September 20), and Vietnam (November 24). In North America, on October 19, we honor the Jesuit missionaries killed by the Iroquois-Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, and their companions Noel Chabanel, Anthony Daniel, Charles Garnier, Gabriel Lalemant, all priests, and Brothers John Lalande and René Goupil.

We honor those who gave their lives in the Nazi death camps as martyrs, such as Saint Maximilian Kolbe (August 14) and Saint Edith Stein (Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, August 9). Though they have not been raised to the dignity of the altar we pay respect and honor for those who have died in struggles for human rights as martyrs, such as Doctor Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers. We honor those slain in Central and South America for their defense of the poor. The martyrs of Latin America include Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador (March 24, 1980), Father Stanley Roether, slain in Guatemala, Maura Clarke, MM, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, MM, and Dorothy Kazel, OSU slain in El Salvador (December 2, 1980), and the Jesuit martyrs of the University of Central America, Ignacio Ellacuría, Armando Lopez, Ignacio Martin Baro, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, Segundo Montez, Juan Ramón Moreno, Celina Mariset Ramos, Elba Julia Ramos (November 16, 1989). Along with them, we honor thousands of martyrs whose names we do not know.

Catholics are joined by their Episcopalian and Lutheran brothers and sisters in celebrating the witness of martyrs. The martyrs of Uganda included Anglicans and Roman Catholics, as Pope Paul VI pointed out in his homily at their canonization. In the United States, the Episcopal Church honors the martyrs of Memphis on September 9. Thirty-eight Anglican and Roman Catholic sisters, laity, and clergy gave their lives nursing others in the yellow fever epidemic that struck that Tennessee city in 1879.

Our Precious Blood family includes martyrs. Gaspar del Bufalo himself is honored as a victim of charity. Gaspar did not hesitate to come to the aid of those suffering in a cholera epidemic in Rome, although his own health was not robust. Despite the precautions he took, Gaspar contracted the disease and succumbed to it. In our own time, the five Adorers of the Blood of Christ slain in Liberia in October 1992 — Shirley Kolmer, Mary Joel Kolmer, Kathleen McGuire, Agnes Mueller, and Barbara Ann Muttra— are honored as “the Martyrs of Charity.” Precious Blood Brother Hubert Mattle was gunned down at the door of the community residence in Altamira, Brazil in October 1995.

The Holy Father has called us to honor all Christians who shed their blood for the faith. The witness of the martyrs of our time strengthens us as we stand for the dignity of human life in a time marked by a culture of death. As we sing the Te Deum, “the white-robed army of martyrs praise you,” may this great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) inspire and strengthen us! We may not be called to shed our blood, but we are called to give witness to love and reconciliation in Jesus’ name.

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Mountains of mail and email. Just a bit exhausted. I am doing busy work and working on next week's projects. But home after a good Retrouvaille experience. More later.

Oh yes, and today is the anniversary of my ordination to the Diaconate, 1991.

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....I will be away at a Retrouvaille weekend in Rockford, IL. Prayers appreciated for all the couples.

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Found over at Mark Shea's:

It's time to re-evaluate our involvement.

Every day there are news reports about more deaths. Every night on TV are photos of death and destruction.
Why are we still there?

We occupied this land, which we had to take by force, but it causes nothing but trouble.
Why are we still there?

Their government is unstable, and they have no leadership.
Why are we still there?

Many of their people are uncivilized, or at least don't speak English.
Why are we still there?

There are more than 1,000 religious sects and almost as many languages and dialects, many of which we don't understand.
Why are we still there?

We can't even secure the borders.
Why are we still there?

They are billions of dollars in debt and it will cost billions more to rebuild, which we can't afford.
Why are we still there?

It is becoming clear.
WE MUST ABANDON CALIFORNIA.

It was a good for a morning chuckle.

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..cleaning, dusting, tossing, packing, and long theological discussions with seminarians who are delaying heading off to school. Oh yeah, and paying bills. ugh!

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It is Steve's night to cook and he apparently found something to cook by scanning the links on my sidebar.

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Blogging as an experience of freedom.

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I am still amazed that I was there. It was a fascinating experience and an incredible conversation. There were about 15 of us around the table in the hotel conference room for most of the day yesterday. The meeting was held in Chicago and it seems I was invited simply because I direct the Gregorian Chant Choir at the University of Chicago. It was a Consultation on Chants for the New Roman Missal conducted by the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the USCCB. Msgr Moroney conducted the meeting, and Fr. Bruce Harbert, the executive Director of ICEL was present. Cathedral Music Directors from Chicago, Seattle and St. Louis were present as well as the Directors from GIA, OCP and WLP. NPM was represented by its president, and then seminary musicians and chant directors from St. John, St. Meinrad, Sacred Heart in Detroit and St. Joseph, Rensselaer were there.

The Translations of the new texts will undergo many transformations in the next few months. There are, after all, eleven Bishops Conferences commenting on them at the moment, but there are already musicians around the country that are developing the principles by which they will be chanted. One thing is sure, the next edition of the Roman Missal for use in English will have a greater emphasis placed on presider chant.

[UPDATE: comments closed]

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One of the highlights of today was the blessing and the opening of the new Sedes Sapientiae Adoration Chapel at Calvert House. Bishop Perry, the Episcopal Vicar for our region was the presider. Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR was one of the concelebrants along with Fr. Mike Yakaitis and myself. The chapel is in honor of the Servant of God Fulton Sheen. Members of his family were there. Fr. Apostoli is the procura for the cause of Fulton Sheen.

I had lunch with Fr. Bruce Harbert, the executive Director ICEL, along with Fr. Mike, Melissa, and fellow blogger Aristotle Esguerra. The discussion was fascinating and insightful as we got an inside look into the complexities of translating of the Sacramentary.

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Check out the new website.

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Guess who was at Mass this morning.

Have a safe trip down to Texas, Aris.

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On the day of my Incorporation the event was celebrated as a part of the Liturgy of Hours. This was in order that the second reading might be from the writings of St. Gaspar, something that would not have been possible at a Mass. So Mass was celebrated in the morning at our Assembly, and then the Incorporation was celebrated at an evening prayer, structured closer to the Office of Readings than to Evening Prayer.

Fr. Gregory Comella, C.PP.S preached. I remember it as being a pretty stunning homily, and memorable. Still I listened to it again today and it stills has the same power. The task, he says, is to walk by faith and to know that hope does not disappoint.

Here is the second reading, selections form the Eleventh Circular letter of St. Gaspar del Bufalo:

I suggest three things in particular for our consideration during these days.

First, that we examine ourselves in the light of the question which the Mellifluous Doctor was accustomed to ask his monks: Why have you come here? (St. Bernard.) For what purpose are we in the Society? To cooperate with the great designs of divine Providence in the sanctification of ourselves and others; to be united in the bond of charity… and to imitate more closely the life of Jesus Christ....

I am in the Society to look after the life of my soul, to offer myself for the glory of God with a holy abandonment in God himself, and to train myself in humility and obedience, all this with the purpose of knowing better his divine Will by being completely reliant upon him as I should.

The second point about which we must examine ourselves is the love that we are to show towards our Society and towards one another. We should always act according to the spirit of the Lord. … We should act in such a manner that we, too, might have stamped upon our hearts the saying of the great St. Francis Xavier: May my right hand be forgotten if I should forget you… (Cf. Ps 136 (137):5.) In this matter, may our love be very, very special. Let it be generous and outgoing, patient and longsuffering, judicious and vigorous.

…May God grant that in the case of our Society the words following may be verified: The blossoming vines give out their fragrance.( Song 2:13) …The cultivation of a vineyard requires skill, toil, vigilance and fruitful rain. Likewise, in the cultivation of our communities, we need special graces. These are obtained through prayer, through exerting ourselves in accomplishing good works, in being orderly and in being vigilant to gather the awaited fruit. In a marvelous way, our Prescriptions and our Rule, which cannot be too highly recommended, serve as our support.

Finally, the third point for our meditation is our activity in furthering those objectives which lead towards the glory of the Lord. This we do in seeking to give them permanence through the Associations which our Society promotes, using the means that it designates as well as the practices which it encourages. Here, let the apostle St. Paul speak. In his letters he reveals a very profound ardor for the salvation of souls and their constant perfection. The love of Christ compels us. (2 Cor 5:14) In all our trouble I am filled with consolation and my joy is overflowing.( 2 Cor 7:4)

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Responding to God who calls me to follow Christ by a special vocation and in your presence Father Director, trusting in God who is ever faithful, and begging the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians, of St. Gaspar, our founder, and St. Francis Xavier, our patron, I, Jeffrey Robert Keyes, of my own free will, promise fidelity to the Society of the Precious Blood in accordance with its constitutions and statutes, giving myself entirely to the service of God for the rest of my life.

May 8, 1990

From left to right, Deacon Jeffrey Finley, CPPS (who now serves as pastor of St. Edward), Provincial Director Fr. Paul Link, CPPS, Doug Crandall serving as Acolyte, Provincial Formation Director Fr. James Sloan CPPS who was my predecessor as Pastor of St. Barnabas, and myself reciting the Act of Incorporation quoted above. Hidden behind Doug Crandal is Fr. Gregory D. Comella, CPPS, the Director of Advanced Formation. Hidden behind me is Sr. Suzanne Toolan, SM, a dear friend who directer the music. The Choir was made up of choir members from St. Leander, St. Edward, St. Francis DeSales and the Vineyard Choir, all choirs I had directed. It was a memorable moment.

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One of the things about moving is that it is a trip down memory lane. Many files and papers get tossed. I think I have filled the dumpster once. Half the boxes in storage have been emptied and flattened. But then there are the pictures. I do not ever remember throwing away a picture. I think I have four boxes full.

Here is one I came across today:

It was taken May 17, 1991 before my ordination as a Deacon. It was held at St. Edward Church where I am to become Pastor on August 1st.

When I was a seminarian for the Diocese of Oakland, I was assigned to a year of Pastoral Internship. That was in 1978 and it was at St. Edward. The Pastor was Ricardo Chavez, a Diocesan Priest.

After I left the seminary and worked as a Music Minister, I was employed for four years as Director of Music for Parish and School at St. Edward. That was 1984-88. The Pastor was Marvin Steffes, CPPS.

Since ordination I have preached Missions and Retreats all over this country and in four other countries. In 1999 I preached a Parish Mission at St. Edward. The Pastor was Jeffrey Finley, CPPS.

In 2002 I was invited to give a Evening of Reflection as part of a series of six evenings on Precious Blood Spirituality. The series was designed to invite people to consider being Precious Blood Companions. The series was held at St. Edward.

On August 1, 2004 I become Pastor of St. Edward Parish.

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.....left for packing. Today, however, I am back to the dentist, and then back here for a meeting on the budget. (ok, why is all this lenten penance packed into the Easter Season?)

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For me it was celebrated May 7th, 1961. This day is also the anniversary of my definitive incorporation as a Missionary of the Precious Blood. The anniversary we observe is generally the day we make our first incorporation (profession). (just a hint: that anniversary is tomorrow).

For those of you who have never heard of a Society of Apostolic Life, that is what we are as Missionaries of the Precious Blood. We do not make a profession of the three vows as Religious do even though the Evangelical Counsels are included in the one act of Incorporation. We make a promise of fidelity to the Bond of Charity and by that act are incorporated into the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. So, Religious celebrate the anniversary of their profession and Missionaries of the Precious Blood celebrate the anniversary of their Incorporation. Sometimes we use the term profession just so people have a sense of what we are talking about. Incorporation sometimes sounds like we are starting a business, but our Incorporation is something very different. We look on it as a fulfillment and completion of our Baptism.

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For several years now I have been writing articles on Precious Blood Saints for Precious Blood Family. One year they asked me to compose these along the lines of the saints referred to in St. Gaspar's 1827 Te Deum-like litany found in the letter to Fr. Santelli. So the next six articles posted here will be from that series:

Here is the first one:

The Noble Fellowship of Prophets Praise You
The Precious Blood Family of Saints
by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S.

The “Te Deum” is an ancient hymn of praise for Sundays and solemnities. This series of reflections on the Precious Blood Family of Saints will follow St. Gaspar’s litany of praise for the glories of the Precious Blood which seems to follow the outline of the “Te Deum.”

Gaspar teaches us: “Through suffering, develop love for Jesus Christ, which is an extension of perfection beyond the courage that joins us to the cross. One begins with the courage to suffer, one continues on then to the joy of love and one takes delight in its precious qualities... Finally, our glory lies in the suffering endured in behalf of our most tender devotion... Glory “in Prophetis” who announced its glories and triumphs.”(1)

Glory in the Prophets

Isaiah was the greatest of the prophets. Little is known of his life. He was probably born around 760 B.C. The first we hear of him was when he was called to the prophetic office in the year that King Uzziah died around 742 B.C. (2) What we do know is what he said and how he inserted himself into the life and politics of his time. He was active in Jerusalem during a critical time in Israel’s history. He was a prophet who called for total faithfulness to Holy One of Israel and confidence in God’s strength in a time when the nation was tempted by useless alliances with pagan nations. He wasn’t known to mince words. “When you spread oust your hands, I close my eyes to you; though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good.” (3)

Jeremiah was born about 650 B.C. of a priestly family from the little village of Anathoth, near Jerusalem. While still very young he was called to his task in the thirteenth year of King Josiah (628), whose reform, begun with enthusiasm and hope, ended with his death on the battlefield of Megiddo.(4) The call of Jeremiah should be familiar to us as it is the first reading each year on the feast of St. Gaspar. “I am too young” (5) is not to be on the lips of the prophet, whoever he or she may be. Youth apparently did not prevent Gaspar from beginning his ministry either. The prophet Jeremiah heartily supported the reform of the pious King Josiah, which began in 629 B.C. After the death of Josiah the old idolatry returned. Jeremiah opposed it with all his strength. Arrest, imprisonment, and public disgrace were his lot. Jeremiah saw in the nation’s impenitence the sealing of its doom.

Parallels can be drawn with the life of Gaspar who steadfast refusal to take the oath of loyalty to Napoleon landed him in ever worsening jails. Gaspar’s intervention on behalf of the people of Sonnino is reminiscent of this kind of prophetic action undertaken by Jeremiah.

The profile of a Missionary of the Precious Blood established by an international gathering of Formation directors in Giano calls all of us “to be prophetic: to resist deceit, injustice, and whatever is contrary to God’s reign.”(6) We pray over each of the baptized, “As Christ was anointed priest, prophet and king, so may you live always as members of his body, sharing everlasting life.” (7) It is more than just believing, we are called to live as members of this family of prophets. As we see in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others, prophets are often called to actions rather than words.

As Gaspar was sent to renew priests and people, we see the witness of all the ancient prophets sent to speak to kings as we are sent to speak to our own culture and our own time.
The prophetic ministry puts us, not in a place of judgment, but places us alongside God who desires repentance, a change of heart; he has no desire to punish. Old Testament prophets reflect a communal sense of life and moral living and responsibility that we need to hear, even if we are a community living in the midst of a culture that we do not have much to say about. An interesting thing about John the Baptist and Jesus is that they are prophets sent when the people do not govern themselves, but still are called to live morally in the midst of a culture with much different values.

The “Te Deum” calls us to lift up our voices in praise of the glories of the Precious Blood. “Come then, Lord, and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood.” 8 We begin our praises with the noble fellowship of prophets who began this proclamation. Remembering our own call to be prophetic, we have the intercession of St. Gaspar and all the Holy Prophets who have gone before us.
__________________________________
NOTES
1 In a letter to Fr. Santarelli in May of 1827, St. Gaspar gives a summary of the Month of the Divine Blood. In the final section, reflecting on the glory of the believer united with God, Gaspar erupts into a Te Deum-type litany.
2 cf Isaiah 6:1
3 Isaiah 1:15-17
4 cf Jeremiah 1:4-9
5 Jeremiah 1:6-7
6 Profile of a Missionary of the Precious Blood, July 8, 1999
7 Baptismal Rite
8 Te Deum

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at 7:52 AM | TrackBack

...still packing.

I wasn't a neat freak before, but now the place is a real mess. But this afternoon I will get some time just to lie there and let the dentist work on my teeth.

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One of the things about moving is the opening of boxes, tossing the stuff you don't need any more, organizing, downsizing, etc.

Then there's the stuff you haven't thought about in a long time. You find this disk and go, "what is this?"

Well, I have been trying lately to find all the articles that I wrote for Precious Blood Family and put them in one place. I cannot remember them all. Well I opened these magazines at the bottom of a box and discovered I had written articles on St. Paul and St. Irenaeus. I cannot find them anywhere on disk, probably the result of general computer meltdown when I moved to Chicago three years ago. Gateway finally replaced that computer and it was a piece of trash too. I have Dell now and it has served me well for two+ years. Anyway, there are a bunch of articles I wrote out there on some dead hard drive. I may type in the two articles I found and include them with the one's on my side bar eventually.

Anyway, I also found an old article I wrote in '97 for the Wine Cellar, an occasional magazine from the Kansas City Province.

The article is on Corporate Precious Blood Prayer.

Enjoy!

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...still packing, cleaning, tossing, sweeping.

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at 10:42 AM | TrackBack

Letters 1801-2000 are now on-line.

They can be found on the Pacific Province Documents Page

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at 8:08 PM | TrackBack

16 Packing days left. I move on June 2nd. I am only in town 16 of those days between now and then. June and July I will be living out a suitcase in several cities. August 1st I land in a new parish, and August 2nd I fly back to Chicago. Go figure.

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The recent liturgy document has fostered a great deal of discussion among Catholic Blogs, and even in this household. In many places there are some who take issue with the church's right to "meddle" in the liturgical affairs of the local assembly.

I have no desire to be a slave to rubrics. I simply wish to celebrate the Eucharist in a community that is focused, not on me and not on themselves, but on Christ. Too often I have seen the discussion develop into an apologia for what the presider or parishioner has a "right" to change or do with the liturgy.

I, for one, am happy with the document. There are a few things about it I question, and there are places to take those questions. Simply dismissing the rules as unreasonable does not serve the people well. The new GIRM and this new instruction seem to be calling for a greater reverence in and for the liturgy. I think this is a good thing, and I am more than willing to study the liturgy a little closer, and to make an effort for greater reverence in and for the Eucharist.

One Catholic Blog talked about this as receiving a document without theological justification. I do not want to quarrel with his experience, so much as to provide a different perspective.

He said, Good liturgy is not only faithful to the structure and rubrics of the Roman rite, but is also an artistic endeavor.

I wish to gently take issue with the idea that the liturgy is an artistic endeavor. Please do not take anything I say to mean that the liturgy should not be done well. But who is the artist? If the liturgy is a place for me to display MY art, then I am not serving the liturgy but using the liturgy as a way to serve me. At liturgy, I am not the artist. Jesus is.

I think the church has a perfect right to govern the course of the liturgy and how it is celebrated.

If how creative and artistic I can be takes priority over matter, form, structure and rubrics, then I have formed a plan to change the liturgy and not allow the liturgy to change me. It then becomes the liturgy of Jeffrey Keyes, not the liturgy of Jesus Christ.

American culture has not served the liturgy well because artistic forms are mostly based in entertainment values. The church is helping us rediscover some worship values.

The liturgy is not a set of rubrics or a recipe to follow. It is a home, a place to meet the one who hase loved me and poured out his last drop of blood for us. It is where I meet him.

We are to do the liturgy well. It is the center. It is the most precious event of any day. We are to provide our best. (Often this is quite difficult in the morning.) But evn if I have failed to cast off the sleep from my eyes, it is stilll a call to a relationship with another, and not an expression or exercise of my art.

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This one is on St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux
Cistercian abbot and doctor of the church

It is fitting that we conclude this year's series of reflections on saints with Bernard of Clairvaux. Since it was in 1830 that Bernard was made a doctor of the church by Pope Pius VIII, we can be sure that his life and work were much studied and discussed in Rome during Saint Gaspar's time. Four of Gaspar's eleven circular letters either quote Bernard directly or employ passages from Bernard's sermons on the Song of Songs. Throughout his life, Saint Gaspar drew from the well of Bernard's reflections on God's love and the mystery of the Incarnation. Gaspar's devotion to Mary, Help of Christians echoes Bernard's homilies for her feasts. Gaspar drew from Bernard's example and his advice to those who desire to know Christ. Our founder's emphasis on prayer and meditation as central in the life of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood shows the influence of Bernard's writings. Action flows from nourishment received in prayer and contemplation. Missionaries must be mystics, too. Too often, in focusing on our identity as members of an Institute of Apostolic Life, we say simply, "We are not monks." This is true, but it also helps us avoid this central aspect of our founding. For St. Gaspar we were called to be "apostles out in the field, (and) Carthusians at home."(1)

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard was born in France, near Dijon in the Duchy of Burgundy, around 1090. His father Tescelin Sorrel was lord of the castle of Fontaines and his mother Aleth was also of noble birth. His two older brothers were trained as soldiers, but his parents hoped Bernard would be a scholar or lawyer. He was at first educated at home, and when he was nine years old, sent to the renowned college at Chatillon-sur-Seine. At this school, directed by the Canons of Saint-Vorles, Bernard was a diligent student. He excelled at literature, out of a desire to undertake the study of Sacred Scripture, but he also enjoyed writing poetry. As a student, Bernard was also known for his devotion and virtue. When he was 19 years old, his mother Aleth died, which deeply affected Bernard and led the young nobleman into a period of prayerful and serious discernment. He resolved to enter the monastery of Citeaux. This monastery, which was close to Bernard's birthplace, had been founded in 1098 by a group of monks eager to restore the Rule of Saint Benedict in all its rigor and vigor, under the leadership of Saint Robert of Molesme.

When Bernard entered he brought a group of about 30 companions-four of his brothers, an uncle, and about 25 other young nobles. Bernard's dedication to prayer and mortification were exemplary. Just as in St. Gaspar's experience, the community began to grow quickly. Three years after he entered Citeaux, Bernard was sent, along with 12 other monks, to found a new house in a place called Valle d'Absinthe, which means the valley of bitterness. On June 25, 1115, Bernard named the foundation Claire Vallee, valley of light-Clairvaux. Bernard was ordained and installed as abbot by William of Champeaux, the bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne, a life-long friend and fellow theologian. The way of life-spartan surroundings, prayer, silence, simple diet, manual labor-that Bernard directed at Clairvaux was even more austere than that of Citeaux. Bernard's reputation for holiness and the power of his preaching drew many people to Clairvaux. Whenever Clairvaux became too crowded, bands of monks were sent out to found new houses. During Bernard's lifetime, over 60 Cistercian houses were founded from Clairvaux alone.

As the Cistercian form of monastic life spread, communication between the monasteries and unity in their rule became important. In 1119, the first general chapter of the community was held. Though he had been a monk for less than ten years, Bernard's reflections on the revival of monastic life were influential. Saint Stephen Harding drafted the Charter of Charity, the statutes regulating the Cistercian way of life and maintaining the connections between all the monasteries and Citeaux. At the invitation of his friend William of Saint-Thierry, abbot of another Benedictine house, Bernard wrote a defense of the Cistercian way of life, called the Apology. Because of his reputation, his abilities as a preacher, and his wisdom and leadership, Bernard was often called away from Clairvaux. He served as secretary at the Council of Troyes in 1128, which was called by Pope Honorius II due to a number of problems and disputes affecting the life of the church in France. At the invitation of his friend, Pope Eugene, Bernard was called upon to preach on behalf of the Crusades. The results were not what Pope Eugene or Bernard hoped or intended.

Although he was an advisor to popes and kings, Bernard was first of all a monk, devoted to contemplation. In his writings for monks, he constantly reminds us that all who seek to serve the Lord must first know the Lord in prayer and contemplation. Bernard's devotion to the humanity of Christ was the seed that led to the flowering of a whole new movement in lay spirituality, the "devotio moderna," which spread throughout northern Europe.

Like St. Gaspar

Like Saint Gaspar, Bernard was concerned with the renewal of the church. He wrote several major treatises on monastic and priestly life-The Steps of Humility and Pride and On the Conversion of Clerics and On the Conduct and Duties of Bishops. Near the end of his life, Bernard composed the Book of Consideration, which urges popes to make piety the center of their lives, not their temporal power and responsibilities. Like Saint Gaspar, Bernard had a number of friends who made important contributions to the renewal of the life of the church. William of Champeaux, who ordained him, was a professor of theology at Notre Dame in Paris, and the founder of the cloister of Saint Victor. The writings of the canons of Saint Victor reflect a theology similar to Bernard's centered on the love of God. William of Saint-Thierry was a Benedictine abbot, who was eager to leave that position to live as a simple Cistercian monk. Like Saint Gaspar, Saint Bernard devoted a great deal of effort to preaching. Bernard's homilies pay careful attention to the Old Testament roots of the mysteries fully revealed in the New Testament. His methods for studying scripture involve prayer and contemplation as well as careful reading. Saint Bernard listens to the scriptures, and invites us to listen, for the call to conversion and action. We are fortunate to have many of his sermons for the feasts of the liturgical year and of Mary, but the fairest flowers in the garden of his preaching are the 86 sermons on the Song of Songs. It is these sermons that we see often reflected in the writing of St. Gaspar. So we shall close with two statements of St. Gaspar reflecting this influence:

"He opened up for us in his most sacred wounds four founts, as St. Bernard says: a fount of mercy, a fount of peace, a fount of devotion, a fount of love and summons all to quench their thirst there" (2)

"St. Bernard asked his monks: My children, for what purpose are we in the monastery? Meditate on this question yourselves and closely examine what brought you to the Society. The purpose must be the welfare of your soul. This, in a few words, says it all."(3)

___________________
NOTES
(1) St. Gaspar in Letter 1040 to Fr. Luigi Locatelli, January 24, 1825, Stokes of the Pen 2
(2) St. Gaspar, from the "Scritti Spirituali, Volume 1, trans by Fr. Ray Cera, CPPS "Most Precious Blood, Volume 18, p. 503 504"
(3) St. Gaspar, Second Circular Letter

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This article is on St. John Chrysostom.

St. John Chrysostom: Patron of preachers

Our Congregation of Missionaries "dedicates itself to the service of the Church through the apostolic and missionary activity of the ministry of the word." [1] This month in our search among the saints in the Precious Blood Family we reach back to the Fourth century to explore the life of the Patron of Preachers, St. John Chrysostom. We see again in him how central to our faith is this devotion to the Blood of Christ.

John was given the name Chrysostom because of his eloquent preaching. The name means "Golden Mouth" in Greek. He was born in Antioch on the Orontes around the year 347 AD. His mother Anthusa was from a well-to-do family of Greek descent. His father Secundus was an army officer of high rank.

John's mother was a Christian; ancient sources vary about his father's acceptance of the faith. His parents gave him a Christian name at birth. In Antioch, John was able to study with the greatest classical teachers of his time. The art of public speaking, oratory, was valued above all others, as the foundation for a career in the imperial service or as a lawyer.

At the completion of his formal studies, at about age 18, John began to practice law. But the life of a young litigator and patron of the theater did not satisfy him. Moved by to the preaching of Meletius, the bishop of Antioch, John became a catechumen. John was baptized at Easter in the year 369 or 370.

John was ordained a deacon in the year 380 or 381. The years John served as a deacon had a lasting influence on his preaching, which is remarkable for its emphasis on justice. John was ordained a presbyter in the year 386. As a presbyter, John preached every Sunday and several times during the week. It is from this period that we have the great collections of his homilies on Matthew, John, most of the Pauline letters and the Letter to the Hebrews. He wrote a series on the Priesthood, and he preached on the Our Father. These writings and homilies fill six volumes of the Ancient Christian Writers series.

He was made patriarch of Constantinople in 398, a burden he was not at all eager to accept. Constantinople was the imperial Eastern capital of the Empire. It was the site of the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381, and thus had a primacy of honor among the churches. John's preaching was accepted with great enthusiasm by all the people and the Emperor Arcadius and the Empress Eudoxia. John reached out to the Goths, both those living within the Empire and those living beyond the Danube. He had the bible translated into their language.

John's efforts to reform and renew the clergy and his harsh words about the wealth and luxury of the imperial court soon brought him enemies in high places, especially the Empress. In 403, the Empress Eudoxia and the disaffected clergy of Constantinople were able to obtain the collusion of Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, who traveled to Constantinople with a retinue of Egyptian bishops. At a secret synod, they convicted John Chrysostom on false charges of immorality and treason. Although he appealed for a general council, John submitted to the sentence of banishment.

The people of Constantinople were outraged and on the verge of insurrection. The night after John was taken away to exile, there was an earthquake, which led the superstitious Empress to ask the Emperor to recall the banished bishop. John was restored in triumph, but he had no allusions of safety. The Empress was more determined than ever to be rid of him when she could get away with it. During the Easter Vigil in 404, John was dragged from the cathedral by armed force. He was sent into exile for a second time, to the village of Cucusus in Armenia. This was dangerous border country, and the climate was very harsh. The bishop of Cucusus welcomed his distinguished colleague. John's friends did what they could to provide for his comfort. Through his many letters, John exerted a wide influence. The Empress was not satisfied. John's letters continued his justice preaching. To punish him further, she succeeded in having him ordered to an even more harsh and remote place of exile, to Pityus in the Caucacus, at the eastern end of the Black Sea. He died on this journey, on September 14, 407. John's body was transferred back to Constantinople on January 27, 438.

Gasparian Echoes

Like Saint Gaspar, John was blessed with an outstanding group of friends at school, including the future Saints Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzen, Theodore of Mopsuestia. Like Saint Gaspar in Rome, John Chrysostom worked among the poor of Antioch and Constantinople. Like Saint Gaspar, he was concerned that the clergy lead upstanding lives, so as to draw the people to God. Like Saint Gaspar, he suffered exile.

More than anything else, like St. Gaspar, the Blood of Christ was central to his thinking and his preaching.

Saint Gaspar quotes John Chrysostom in his Reflections on the Archconfraternity of the Most Precious Blood. One of the selections from the Office of Readings for the Solemnity of the Precious Blood includes Chrysostom's homage to the Precious Blood. John Chrysostom's homilies are a major source for the Office of Readings; there are 20 selections from his work, including the one for Good Friday. That passage begins: "If we wish to understand the power of Christ's blood..." and then reflects on the Passover. After illuminating the water and blood flowing from Christ's side as signs of baptism and the eucharist, Chrysostom employs a graphic image--"As a mother nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he has given life." In his reflection on the request of James and John to sit at Jesus' right and left, Chrysostom links the cup and the cross. This selection is in the Office of Readings for July 25, the feast of Saint James. [2]

In his treatises on the priesthood, Chrysostom says "When you see the Lord immolated and lying upon the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all the people empurpled by that precious blood, can you think that you are still among men and on earth? Or are you not lifted up to heaven?" Purple is the color of royalty; we are a royal priesthood.

In the west, we celebrate his feast on September 13, because the 14th is the day we celebrate the Holy Cross. He is also honored on January 27, the day of his posthumous restoration to his cathedral city, and also on November 13 in the East.

_______________________________
ENDNOTES

[1] Normative Texts, C3

[2] For those with access to the internet, most of John Chrysostom's writings can be found on-line at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library under the heading Early Church Fathers.

Much of the material for this essay was adapted from the writing of Philip Schaff, in the Prolegomena to volume IX of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series I, as found in the Christian Classics internet files at Wheaton College.

Precious Blood Companion Maureen Lahiff served as research assistant for this essay.

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I found a bunch of articles in an old directory. Some of them have already been posted to this site, but three of them have not. So I will post them here and then provide links in the sidebar under articles.

This first one is on St. John Fisher.

Echoes Through the Centuries

Devotion to the blood of Christ is the fount from which all other devotions spring. No devotion is more fundamental. And we find this truth echoing through the Centuries.

There are some remarkable echoes we see in the life of St. Gaspar when reading the story of St. John Fisher. John Fisher was a martyr in 1535, a contemporary of St. Thomas More. Their feast is celebrated together on June 22.

Refusing the Oath

On June 13, 1810 St. Gaspar was brought before the magistrate to profess an oath of allegiance to Napoleon. "I would rather die or suffer evil than to take such an oath. I cannot. I must not. I will not," was the now famous reply, echoing the strength of confessors of the Faith from Jesus before Pilate to the present day. St. Gaspar spent the next four years in a variety of prisons.

John Fisher was Bishop of Rochester, a friend and teacher of Henry VIII. When Henry decided to separate the church in England from the Church of Rome, many of the other bishops signed an oath in support of Henry’s action. John Fisher refused and was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

John Fisher was born in 1469 in Yorkshire. John's father Robert Fisher was a mercer, a merchant of fine cloth. In 1482 or 1483, when he was 13 or 14, John Fisher's mother sent him off to the University of Cambridge. The School where John Fisher studied had a strong theological orientation. John completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1488 and his Master of Arts degree in 1491. After ordination he began the long course of studies for a doctorate in theology, which we was awarded in 1501 commencing an impressive academic career. He was so respected by other scholars that they named him chancellor for life, a rare honor. In 1504, King Henry VII nominated John Fisher to be the bishop of Rochester, a post he held for 30 years.

Despite his duties at Cambridge and in London, Fisher was tireless in the service of his diocese. It is noteworthy that Fisher was content to remain bishop of Rochester, when he could have easily secured appointment to a richer and more prestigious diocese. John Fisher's steadfast service and his personal prayer were noted by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo of Milan, now also a saint, when he sought to describe how a bishop should live. Like Gaspar, Fisher was concerned with the theological education and formation in preaching available to diocesan priests.

In the first three months of 1534, in a short space of ten weeks, Parliament passed a number of acts that asserted the king's power over the bishops and set in motion the Reformation in England. All the King's subjects of full age were required to take an oath to the whole arrangement. On April 13, 1534, Fisher was summoned to appear in London to take the required oath. He refused the oath and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Sir Thomas More and a number of other priests were summoned and imprisoned on the same dates.

Throughout their imprisonment, Fisher and More were quite specific in their resistance to the oath. Pope Paul III, created John Fisher a cardinal on May 20, 1535. Henry flew into a rage when he received the news and demanded that Fisher and More's jailers quit stalling. John Fisher was brought to trial on June 17th. There was no doubt that Fisher was guilty as charged. On June 22, 1535, John Fisher was beheaded on Tower Hill, outside the city gates. His head was stuck on a pike on London Bridge, reminiscent of the actions Gaspar complained about when the papal armies worked against the bandits of Sonnino in his own time.

Devotion to the Blood

The focus of Fisher's preaching, reinforced by a rich collection of scriptural quotations, is the mercy and love of God. Fisher presents a number of grounds for the sinner's confidence in the mercy of God, but the preeminent one is clearly the blood of Christ. "By the effusion of his holy blood, [he] has given so great efficacy and strength to the holy sacraments of his church, that when we receive any one of them, we shall be sprinkled and made clean by the virtue of his precious blood." The selection for the Office of Readings for Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent is from this series of sermons.

In a sermon preached on Good Friday (the year cannot be determined) Fisher presents an extended metaphor of the crucifix as a book, a summary of "the very philosophy of Christian people. He draws on the scriptures from the Good Friday Liturgy of his day, on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, and on the writings of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. The crucifix is a universal book, which Christian women and men in all states of life and circumstances can read.

Generations later we find an echo in the life of St. Gaspar as he writes to his brother missionaries in his eighth circular letter:

Jesus the Savior ardently desires to remind us to be recollected during the retreat and to read the great book of the Cross that we may acquire heavenly wisdom for the sanctification of ourselves and others. But, my dearly beloved, what do we read in the wounds of Jesus Crucified if not this, that Christ is the mystic rock struck with the staff of the Cross: “When he struck the rock, waters gushed, torrents streamed out.

Gaspar's Second Circular Letter also recommends the crucifix as the book for the missionaries to read.

Also in his preaching, Fisher was devoted to the seven blood sheddings of Jesus, drawing on the same font of spirituality that would touch the life of Francesco Albertini and St. Gaspar centuries later.

Every age, every generation, is called to know the riches of God’s mercy found in the Precious Blood of Jesus. Now in our Family of Saints we have a friend from England who is witness for us of this devotion. May we be as fearless as this noted scholar and preacher in defending the faith in our own day.

Sources

“Companion to the Calendar” Mary Ellen Hynes, Liturgy Training Publications, 1993

“Saint John Fisher”, E. E. Reynolds. The University of Glasgow Press, revised edition, 1972.

“The Works and Days of John Fisher,” Edward Sturz, S.J. Harvard University Press, 1967.

“Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: The Career of Bishop John Fisher,” edited by Brendon Hanshaw and Eamon Duffy, Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Precious Blood Companion Maureen Lahiff served as research assistant on this article

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This is another article written for Precious Blood Family

Woman of the New Covenant, Help of Christians

We, the baptized, have been invited to the wedding feast.(1) If Jesus were to stand here and talk of the Kingdom, he would speak not of a political order, but of a Feast, a Community, a Celebration. We would have hopes and desires for this feast. There would be joy. Even people just passing by would be invited to participate. The expectation of joy and fellowship and community and communion would be something all of us would bring.

But at the feast in Israel in Jesus' days, these expectations were not being fulfilled. Some were left out. Some were not welcome. Some were not free. Others felt that they were holy, to the exclusion of others. Some were considered not dressed properly for the Feast of the Kingdom. And in the midst of these expectations, hoped for and unfulfilled, the scriptures present us with a stunning picture of Mary.

Wedding feasts were events of the whole community. The Gospel of John tells us a story of one such feast(2), and even before mentioning the name of Jesus, the Evangelist points out that Mary was there. As any woman of that culture, she would have been deeply involved with the preparations of the feast, preparing the food, providing the hospitality, making sure the feast was festive and the atmosphere joyful. We know two things that she says on this occasion. No one asks her, but she speaks clearly, without invitation. She stands and says to Jesus, "They have no wine."

This is her wisdom. This is her voice. This is her gift to us. If the wine has failed, all our expectations of joy and community and communion have failed. If the wine has failed, the kingdom of God has yet to be realized; therefore, she becomes for us at this juncture the voice of our longing for the kingdom. It is only one small voice, she remains hidden but not despairing. Even in the absence of the kingdom, she was faithful. She knew more clearly than anyone else did what the gift and expectation were, and she speaks the voice of our longing: there is more coming.

The kingdom has yet to come and she stands at the table and says let it come. She takes the whole of our tradition, Jewish and Christian, and reduces it to five words: "Do whatever He tells you." She doesn't speak as one with authority as if she wants to establish her own way or her own power. Instead, she remains hidden and her voice falls silent. We never hear it again.

From then on we only see what she does. She stands and she waits. She with the Beloved Disciple witnesses the Passion of Jesus. She gathers with the apostles in the upper room to pray. But those are her last words to us, not as a teacher, nor a superior. She is not an overlord, but a mother who knows what abundance waits for us- abundance more than of just 150 gallons of pure wine! Good wine!

Mary gives us Jesus. Mary turns us to Jesus. Mary brings us to Jesus. In Mary and through Mary the situation of humanity and of the world has been reversed, and we have in some way re-entered into the splendor of the first creation. Mary was the instrument that linked the Son of God to human flesh and blood. Later we see Him feed the multitudes, more than five thousand people. He far exceeds the expectations that we brought to this feast and that all the prophets had. It's not simply just a revelation of Divine Love. It is a revelation that we share in divine nature. No mere passerby is included now, but each one of us becomes the child, the son or daughter at the feast, with a place card, each with our own name. We bring to our feast a vision, knowing in our own expectations and in our experiences of our life and of the kingdom of this world that the wine fails often.

In all our distresses, in all our persecutions, in all our sorrows, and in all our afflictions, she is the one who stands at the table offering the bread of abundance and the wine of the new covenant, simply repeating her words to us: "Do whatever He tells you."

It is important for us to realize and to celebrate the presence of the Mother of Jesus. She speaks to those who wait on table, not to the powerful, or to the leaders, or to the headwaiter, but to those who serve. Only the servants know. In any situation in life that can be characterized by “They have no wine” the servants have the means to enable the kingdom of God.

A reading of Chapter 12 of Revelation shows that from the very beginning of creation, "this woman clothed with the sun” is caught in a conflict with the powers of evil. Our own experience of life in the twentieth century says that the wine has often failed; that life is not cherished, that violence is promoted, that among the young people of our nation the lifestyle that lacks responsibility or vision is promoted. Television tells us that to be a Christian is to be mentally deficient or to be corrupt. Yet she remains from the very beginning the image of the Church, the image of those of her offspring who keep her word. She who is our Mother prevails against all enemies within and without. She remains simply the mother at the table with an abundance of bread in the wilderness(3)--with an abundance of the New Wine of the Covenant.

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NOTES
(1)Matt 22:2 "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
(2)John 2: 1-11
(3)Mary’s statement, “Do whatever he tells you,” is an echo of the same statement in the book of Genesis when Pharaoh tells the Israelites about Joseph, “Do whatever he tells you.” (Gen. 41:55) Thus in the story of the Wedding at Cana we have a reference to an abundance of Bread in the desert and an Abundance of the wine of the new covenant, a marvelous Eucharistic meditation.

Posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. at 9:09 AM | TrackBack

I was looking for this article the other day when we celebrated her feast. Today, when looking for something else, I found my article on Catherine. It was written for a series on Precious Blood Saints for the Precious Blood Family magazine.

The Precious Blood Family of Saints
We are used to including in our Precious Blood Family here on the West Coast of California a variety of names in our Litany of Saints that bring to mind our devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. At the top of the list are names like St. Gaspar del Bufalo and Blessed Maria de Mattias. In speaking of them we also include mention of Companions and fellow laborers who accompanied them, Venerable Merlini, St. Vincent Palloti, Blessed Vincent Strambi and others. For St. Gaspar, devotion to the blood of Christ was the fount from which all the other devotions sprang. There was no devotion more fundamental. If this is true, mention of this devotion would have been evident in the church's patrimony prior to the early 19th century when Francis Albertini composed such cherished prayers in honor of the Blood of Christ, such as the Seven Offerings and the Precious Blood Chaplet. A brief survey of the writings of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the church would reveal that this is true. From the earliest centuries with St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Justin Martyr, to the present day, we discover how central this spirituality is.

St. Catherine of Siena
For me, a favorite in this list of Saints and Holy ones is the name of the youngest daughter of Jacobo of Benicasa and his wife Monna Lapa of Puccio dei Piagenti. Catherine, the youngest of twenty-three children, was born in 1347. From the first she was different from the others. At the age of six she saw the saints gathered in praise around the Lord and she wanted to be one of them. As a young girl she made a private vow of virginity, and at 12 she cut off her hair to make clear that she did not want a husband prepared for her, as she had already given herself to the Lord. Over difficult opposition of her family, and even of the Dominican Tertiaries she was joining, she finally was permitted to take the Dominican Habit and become a member of the this group of tertiaries called the "Mantellate.(1) The Mantellate were a group of older women, often widows, who took the habit of the Dominican Order but remained living in their homes and participating in the prayers of the community and the works of mercy.

The First Work: Communion
It was St. Gaspar that said that our principle was the same as Vincent de Paul, we are Carthusians at home and apostles on the road. It is Catherine, centuries before who put flesh to this ideal. After taking the habit, she confined herself to her room to be in total communion with God, going out only to attend the Mass at the local Dominican Church. After some years of this solitude and silence, her family slowly accepting the direction her life had taken, she abruptly returns to society, to serve the needs of the sick and the poor, to serve her