To remain with their people: the Monks of Tibhirine

On this day or very near it, seven years ago, seven Trappist brothers, who had been prisoners of the "Armed Islamist Group of Algeria" for two months, were executed. A few days later, their captors issued a communique, and their heads were found on a heap at the side of the road. The remains were returned to their monastery, where both Christian and Muslim neighbors mourned.

For years before their abduction, they had been repeatedly offered military protection by the Algerian government and refused it, because it would separate them from the trials of the other people of their village of Tibhirine, and because it would mean them taking sides in the ongoing conflicts. They had also been urged to close the monastery and flee to safety in France, and refused. Tibhirine needed them.

During the increasing hostilities, the prior, Dom Christian de Cherge, wrote his final testament and mailed it to his family, to be opened in the case of his death.

For those of my readers who can read French, the original text can be found at this link.

The Testament of Dom Christian

Facing a GOODBYE......

If it should happen one day --- and it could be today --- that I become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to engulf all the foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church and my family to remember that my life was GIVEN to God and to this country. I ask them to accept the fact that the One Master of all life was not a stranger to this brutal departure. I would ask them to pray for me: for how could I be found worthy of such an offering? I ask them to associate this death with so many other equally violent ones which are forgotten through indifference or anonymity. My life has no more value than any other. Nor any less value. In any case, it has not the innocence of childhood. I have lived long enough to know that I am an accomplice in the evil which seems to prevail so terribly in the world, even in the evil which might blindly strike me down. I should like, when the time comes, to have a moment of spiritual clarity which would allow me to beg forgiveness of God and of my fellow human beings, and at the same time forgive with all my heart the one who would strike me down. I could not desire such a death. It seems to me important to state this.

I do not see, in fact, how I could rejoice if the people I love were indiscriminately accused of my murder. It would be too high a price to pay for what will perhaps be called, the "grace of martyrdom," to owe it to an Algerian, whoever he might be, especially if he says he is acting in fidelity to what he believes to be Islam. I am aware of the scorn which can be heaped on the Algerians indiscriminately. I am also aware of the caricatures of Islam which a certain Islamism fosters. It is too easy to soothe one's conscience by identifying this religious way with the fundamentalist ideology of its extremists. For me, Algeria and Islam are something different: it is a body and a soul. I have proclaimed this often enough, I think, in the light of what I have received from it. I so often find there that true strand of the Gospel which I learned at my mother's knee, my very first Church, precisely in Algeria, and already inspired with respect for Muslim believers. Obviously, my death will appear to confirm those who hastily judged me naïve or idealistic: "Let him tell us now what he thinks of his ideals!" But these persons should know that finally my most avid curiosity will be set free. This is what I shall be able to do, God willing: immerse my gaze in that of the Father to contemplate with him His children of Islam just as He sees them, all shining with the glory of Christ, the fruit of His Passion, filled with the Gift of the Spirit whose secret joy will always be to establish communion and restore the likeness, playing with the differences.

For this life lost, totally mine and totally theirs, I thank God, who seems to have willed it entirely for the sake of that JOY in everything and in spite of everything. In this THANK YOU, which is said for everything in my life from now on, I certainly include you, friends of yesterday and today, and you, my friends of this place, along with my mother and father, my sisters and brothers and their families. You are the hundredfold granted as was promised!

And also you, my last-minute friend, who will not have known what you were doing: Yes, I want this THANK YOU and this GOODBYE to be a "GOD-BLESS" for you, too, because in God's face I see yours. May we meet again as happy thieves in Paradise, if it please God, the Father of us both.

AMEN ! INSHALLAH !

Algiers, 1st December 1993
Tibhirine, 1st January 1994

Christian +
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One of this earth's most unfortunate hermits: Pietro di Morone

Today we celebrate a saint who may have been the most unlucky hermit in history. Pietro di Morone, born in about 1209, grew up pious but poor, got a rudimentary education, and when he was 20 years old he went into the mountains to live as a hermit. Word got around about his wisdom and people kept going out to his hermitage to receive his counsel. Eventually, he was persuaded to accept ordination, and became the head of a community of hermits on Mt. Morone. Pietro lived a holy life of prayer in (relative) peace and obscurity, until 1294.

Now, in 1292, Pope Nicholas IV had died. For 27 months, the cardinals had met in conclave --- but political intrigue and family rivalries kept them from electing Nicholas' successor. The faithful were getting antsy. So Pietro the hermit sent a message to the cardinals, calling the wrath of God down upon them unless they did their duty and elected _somebody_ to be the next pope. The cardinals did settle down and do their duty, and elected a pope: Pietro., now renamed Celestine V.

This selection delighted the faithful, who wildly welcomed their new pope. It was also beguiling to the power-hungry and the job seekers and the lovers of intrigue, who saw in this simple other-worldly outsider an opportunity for advancing their various interests by manipulation. For Pietro/Celestine himself, it was just bewildering.

Pietro endured being "Celestine V pp" for 5 months. Tired, bewildered, and homesick for his solitary life, he became convinced that the duties of being the pope were beyond his capabilities, and on December 13, 1294, he abdicated, put off the pontifical vestments, and went back to his hermitage in the mountains.

The conclave met again, and it didn't take very long this time to elect Boniface VIII, the total opposite of Celestine. Boniface was arrogant and cruel and contemptuous, and gifted in political intrigue, whereas Pietro/Celestine was self-effacing and an innocent, politically naive. Boniface had few friends, and made many enemies. Afraid that Pietro/Celestine, whom the faithful still loved, would become the center of active opposition to him, Boniface had Pietro arrested and imprisoned in a fortress. Pietro's reaction to this: "I wanted nothing in this world but a cell, and a cell they have given me." After 10 months in prison, Pietro died, still imprisoned, on this day in 1296. There were reasonably-founded public suspicions that he was assassinated by or at the order of Boniface.

Boniface, in due time, died himself, and Boniface's successor, Clement V, canonized Pietro di Morone, Celestine V, in 1313.
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Another find for developing humility in us Catholics

Here is an article, by a non-Catholic, an Evangelical Protestant, about (now hold on tight......)
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the absolute necessity of auricular Confession! How very often do we, who have Confession as a gift from our youth, so neglect putting it to use.

[I got the link from Lynn of Noli Irritare Leones, who isn't Catholic either, but a Friend.]
What does it say about us when Evangelicals and Quakers pay more attention to confession than we ourselves sometimes do?
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A story I've found that puts my faith to shame

is right here, in the realm of Real Live Preacher.
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St. Basil the Great on Reconciliation, from today's Office of Readings

When someone falls does he not rise again? If he goes astray does he not return? You can find many safeguards against evil in Sacred Scripture and many remedies that bring salvation out of ruin. Consider the mysteries of death and resurrection, the words of dreadful judgment and eternal punishment, the teachings about repentance and remission of sin, the countless examples of change in mind and heart, the lost silver piece, the lost sheep, the prodigal son who squandered his substance with harlots, who was dead and returned to life again. Let us make use of these safeguards against evil and thereby heal our souls.

Let us raise ourselves from our fall and not give up hope as long as we free ourselves from sin. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Come, let us adore and prostrate ourselves and weep before him. The Word calls us to repentance, crying out: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you. There is, then, a way to salvation if we are willing to follow it. Death overpowered us and swallowed us up, but God has wiped away the tears from the face of everyone who repents. The Lord is faithful in all his words. He does not deceive us when he says: Though your sins be like scarlet they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red they may become white as wool.

The great physician of souls is ready to cure your illness; he is prepared to liberate every soul enslaved by sin. These are the words his sweet and saving lips have spoken: People who are in good health do not need a doctor; sick people do. I have not come to call the self-righteous but sinners to repentance. When Jesus gives this reassurance, what excuse is left to you or to anyone else? He wishes to free you of the pain of your wound and to show you light after darkness. The Good Shepherd who left the sheep that have not wandered away is in search of you. Place yourself in his care, and in his mercy he will not hesitate nor disdain to carry you on his own shoulders. Indeed he will rejoice that he has found his sheep that was lost.

Your Father stands and waits for you to return from your wandering. Come back! And while you are still far off he will hasten toward you to embrace you lovingly who are already cleansed by your repentance. He will put the finest robe on you, who have laid aside your former way of life and your old self. He will place a ring on the finger of the hands that are cleansed of grievous sin. He will put shoes on the feet that turn from the way of evil to the path of the Gospel of peace. And he will proclaim a day of happiness and joy for his own, both men and angels, and in every way celebrate the festival of your salvation. For I tell you there is joy in heaven over one repentant sinner. Should anyone who thinks himself to stand find fault that you have been quickly received, the good Father himself will speak in your defense and say: We had to celebrate and rejoice for this my daughter was dead and has come back to life again; she was lost and is found.
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How to eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
How to live the works of mercy and peace and justice? Dare to take the first step, and then another, and another.

From Bob Waldrop [the keeper of the Access to Catholic Social Justice Teachings site linked in my sidebar], this essay of stepping out in faith to live in a merciful. peaceful, and just way.
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That pearl we seek is God Himself, and no thing other; it is not too late to turn to Him

Some words from a wise cyber-aquaintance, Fr. Shawn O'Neil, that are fitting for today's memorial:

I thank God that I have had the opportunity especially during the past few weeks to bring people back to God after they have been away for many years. I have been inspired by their humility. I hope that they have happily left the confessional; I do not see the faces of many of these people. So many of them have been filled with deep remorse as they confessed their sins. I ask all of you to pray for the people who have received the Sacrament of Reconciliation after many years away from it. Pray that they feel joy within their hearts. Angels sing with joy when one sinner repents and turns back toward God.

I have told you about these people because they have said in implicit terms that they thought that they could achieve happiness by doing anything and everything, but they discovered that all that they thought was happiness was an illusion. I hope that they feel as Saint Paul felt when he wrote with joy that all that he thought mattered no longer mattered. Jesus had him. He had Jesus. He had everything that anyone could ever want.
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Margaret of Cortona --- her story sounds awfully contemporary considering she was born in 1247 ----

Today we celebrate one of the Church's great penitents, those who wandered or ran away from the faith and returned to it with contrition and gratitude and strength.

Margaret was a normal happy little girl, until her mother died and her father married again. Then her life and her faith began to fall apart. Her stepmother couldn't stand her, and Margaret returned aggravation and hatred in kind. Soon Margaret ran away or was pushed out of the household; a disaster in those days, when women had next to no recognition except as somebody's daughter, or somebody's wife, or somebody's mother. This also sounds a lot like the stories of half the teenagers at the Walker's Point Shelter up the street from my place. It wasn't too long, though, until Margaret was off the streets --- as the live-in concubine of a local young noble. She came to actually love the guy, and she lived with him without benefit of matrimony for nine years, and bore him a son. He was in the habit of going out riding each day, and one day his dog came back home alone, and led Margaret to the mutilated body of her nobleman, who had been assassinated. Margaret was brought by this to think on the last things, and on the judgment of God, who may call one to Himself at the least expected time, and to see her own miserable spiritual condition.

She tried to go back to her father's household, but her stepmother was still there and would not allow it. So she left town and went to Cortona, where there was a community of Franciscan brothers that had a reputation for their gentleness and kindness toward former notorious sinners and other pariahs. She placed herself under the direction of the good brothers, did massive amounts of corporal penance (from which the brothers often needed to restrain her), taught herself nursing and established a hospital, caring for the patients herself, and lived in humility and poverty and the works of mercy until her death in 1297. And so she joined the litany of the great penitents, with Miriam the prophet and David the king, with Mary of Egypt and Thais and the anonymous one of Sachsenhausen, and all the others who know Who has saved them and from whence their help comes. May we all come to be in their company in the fullness of time.
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St. Pachomius' Day --- you don't have to be a solitary hermit to be a religious!

Abba Pachomius, a former army draftee who converted to Christianity and went out to the desert, established a large monastic establishment at Tabannissi, one of the first of its kind; and he wrote the first ever rule for monks to live in community. Before his days, the norm of monastic life was the solitary hermit or anchorite, or a particularly wise abba or amma with two or three younger monks in what was called a laura. The Rule of Pachomius became the basis for the later rules of both St. Basil and St. Benedict. A story from the life of Abba Pachomius --- who eventually led 9 monasteries of men and two of women......

Once some brothers from the monastery of Chenoboskion came and told Abba Pachomius, "A brother is sick and he wants to see you and to be blessed before he dies." When the man of God heard this, he rose up and followed them. When he was about two miles from the monastery, he heard a holy voice in the air. He lifted up his eyes and saw the soul of the sick brother with the holy angels, singing psalms and being taken to the blessed life of God. Now the brothers who were following him neither heard nor saw anything. As he stood and gazed a long time to the east, they said to him, "Why are you standing, O Father? Let us go quickly, that we may find him alive." He answered them, "We shall not find him, for I am right now seeing him being taken up to eternal life. Return, then, to your monastery, children." As the brothers entreated him to tell them how he saw the soul of the dead brother, he told them the manner. After they had heard it, the departed to their monastery. They verified very exactly from the brothers in the monastery the hour which the Great Man had told them, and then they knew that what the holy man had told about the dead brother was true.

As Pachomius was journeying to his own monastery, and had come near the desert called Amnon, legions of demons rose both on his right hand and on his left, some following him and others running in front of him, saying, "Behold the blessed man of God." They were doing this, wishing to sow vainglory in him. But he knew their cunning, and the more they shouted, the more he cried out to God, confessing his sins.

And undoing the demons' cunning, he spoke out to them saying, "O wicked ones! You cannot carry me away into vainglory, for I know my failures, for which I ought to weep constantly over eternal punishment. I have therefore no need of your false speech and guileful deceit, for your word is the destruction of the soul. And I am not carried away by your praises, for I know the cunning of your unholy minds." And although Abba Pachomius said these things to them, they did not stop their
shamelessness. They followed alongside the blessed man until he drew near to his monastery.
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How Abba Macarius came to become an elder at Scetis: the scarlet A for Accused is not only of our days, or of St. Gerard Majella's day, but from much, much earlier.

Abba Macarius said this about himself: "When I was young and was living in a cell in Egypt, they took me to make me a cleric in the village. Because I did not wish to receive this dignity, I fled to another place. Then a devout layman joined me; he sold my munual work for me and served me. Now it happened that a virgin in the village, under the weight of temptation, committed sin. When she became pregnant, they asked her who was to blame. She said, 'the anchorite.' Then they came to seize me, led me to the village and hung pots black with soot and various other things round my neck and led me through the village in all directions, beating me and saying, 'This monk has defiled our virgin, catch him, catch him!' and they beat me almost to death. Then one of the old men came and said, 'What are you doing, how long will you go on beating this strange monk?' The man who served me was walking behind me, full of shame, for they covered him with insults also, saying, 'Look at this anchorite, for whom you stood surety; what has he done?' The girl's parents said, 'Do not let him go till he has given a pledge that he will keep her.' I spoke to my servant and he vouched for me. Going to my cell, I gave him all the baskets I had, saying, 'Sell them, and give my wife something to eat.' Then I said to myself, 'Macarius, you have found yourself a wife, you must work a little more in order to keep her.' So I worked night and day and sent my work to her. But when it came time for the wretch to give birth, she remained in labor many days without bringing forth, and they asked her, 'What is the matter?' She said, 'I know what it is; it is because I slandered the anchorite, and accused him unjustly; it is not he who is to blame, but such and such a young man.' Then the man who served me came to me full of joy, saying, 'The virgin could not give birth until she had said "The anchorite had nothing to do with it, but I have lied about him." The whole village wants to come here solemnly and do penance before you.' But when I heard this, for fear people would disturb me, I got up and fled here to Scetis. That is the original reason why I came here."

[Sayings of the Desert Fathers(alpabetical collection)]
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One of my honored predecessors is remembered today.

Today, according to Kathy R's For all the Saints [see link list], is the memorial day of St. Julian of Norwich, one of my honored predecessors in the full time occupation of intercession. In her day, when both the workings of the Church and the workings of the economy were much different, the anchor hold dwellers lived in tiny houses attached to the walls of churches. Most even had a window through the church wall so the anchorite could even assist at Eucharist without having to go out into society.

Julian had her little rooms on the side of St. Julian's Church in Norwich. With a maidservant (to do the selling of Julian's handiwork and the other things that had to be done outside) and a pet cat (which appears in her icon), she took up the anchorite's duties --- to pray for the good of her world. One one particular day, she had a series of visions and insights, which she wrote down in a book called Showings. After the visions, her life did not change, but she continued in her anchor hold, praying for the town and the Church of Norwich, and listening to all who came to her to talk; we know quite a few took advantage of her counsel in part because she appears in the journals of Marjorie Kempe, the top guide book writer of the day.

Julian, pray for us who follow in your footsteps.
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Template revisions in progress to make this blog more compatable for Blogs4God. Hope they work the first time! Will return later.
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John 14 --- He prepares a dwelling place for us, and we are to be a dwelling place for Him

This article in the most recent The Other Side is well worth the read. You may want to parallel this with the essay by our beloved Steven of Flos Carmeli on the same subject (written back in early September).

from the article:
In the same passage where Jesus speaks of preparing a heavenly home for us, he later turns the homecoming image around. To those who love God, he tells his disciples, he will send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will live with us, and in us (14:16-17). And a few verses later, Jesus takes it even further: "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Heavenly Parent will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (14:23).

This is radical stuff. What does it mean for us to make a home for God --- here and now?

First, if we make in our lives a home for God, it's going to change us. Jesus isn't a delicate houseguest who leaves everything just the way he found it. Jesus moves in and renovates. Think of Zacchaeus, the "wee little man" who climbs up in a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus. But Jesus stops the parade under Zacchaeus's tree and says, "Hey Zak, come down out of that sycamore, because tonight I'm coming to your house. Tonight, your home is going to become my home." And to the great chagrin of the religious leaders surrounding Jesus, he goes and has dinner with this despised tax collector (Luke 19:1-10).

Zacchaeus had been a collaborator with the Romans, exploiting his own people and making a nice living off of it. But before he knows it, after having made a home for Jesus in his life, Zacchaeus is giving half of what he has to the poor, and offering to repay four times the amount that he has defrauded anyone. If we make a home for God, God's going to do some remodeling.

Second, if our lives and our churches are serious about making a home for God, that will also mean making room at the table for all people --- including some folks we might not expect. The Letter to the Ephesians describes a faith community that has become a dwelling place for God's Spirit (2:11-22). The images are of reconciliation, peace, inclusion. In a community where God dwells, those who were once far away are brought near, the dividing walls of hostility, misunderstanding, and fear are broken down. Divisions of race, class, sexual orientation, nationality, economics, or even theology are breached by God's unconditional love for us all. The church which makes a home for Christ also makes room for the hungry, the homeless, the imprisoned --- the "least of these" in whom Jesus said we would meet him. Those who once were considered foreigners and aliens, to use Paul's language, will have a place at the table next to us. And it will change us.

Finally, if we make in our lives a home for God, we become partners with God in shaping this world. We take responsibility for our future, recognizing that the decisions we make every day are of great importance, for they either allow God's reign to be made real on earth as in heaven, or they prevent it.

In an article in The Other Side a few years back, Dorothee Sölle recounted growing up in Germany in the 1940s, and how her faith was shaped by the tremendous acts of courageous resistance that she witnessed as a child during World War II. She was part of a community that sheltered many Jewish families during the war. At a very early age, Dorothee learned that the way we live matters. The fates of innumerable persons during the Holocaust were determined largely by the decisions and actions of individual persons. For each family that responded courageously to the need, lives were saved.

It's been said that "God has no hands in this world but ours." When we make a home for God in our lives, our hands become God's hands, our lives an instrument for bringing about God's reign, here and now.

Do use the link and read it all!
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from today's Office of Readings: St. Gregory the Great on trying to be good sheep

I am the good shepherd. I know my own --- by which I mean, I love them --- and my own know me. In plain words: those who love me are willing to follow me, for anyone who does not love the truth has not yet come to know it.

My dear brethren, you have heard the test we pastors have to undergo. Turn now to consider how these words of our Lord imply a test for yourselves also. Ask yourselves whether you belong to his flock, whether you know him, whether the light of his truth shines in your minds. I assure you that it is not by faith that you will come to know him, but by love; not by mere conviction, but by action. John the evangelist is my authority for this statement. He tells us that anyone who claims to know God without keeping his commandments is a liar.

Consequently, the Lord immediately adds: As the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. Clearly he means that laying down his life for his sheep gives evidence of his knowledge of the Father and the Father’s knowledge of him. In other words, by the love with which he dies for his sheep he shows how greatly he loves his Father.

Again he says: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them; they follow me, and I give them eternal life. Shortly before this he had declared: If anyone enters the sheepfold through me he shall be saved; he shall go freely in and out and shall find good pasture. He will enter into a life of faith; from faith he will go out to vision, from belief to contemplation, and will graze in the good pastures of everlasting life.

So our Lord’s sheep will finally reach their grazing ground where all who follow him in simplicity of heart will feed on the green pastures of eternity. These pastures are the spiritual joys of heaven. There the elect look upon the face of God with unclouded vision and feast at the banquet of life for ever more.

Beloved brothers, let us set out for these pastures where we shall keep joyful festival with so many of our fellow citizens. May the thought of their happiness urge us on! Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveller who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going.
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to begin Good Shepherd Sunday: Chaucer's description of a pretty good one

A good man was there of religioun,
And was a povre Parson of a town;
But rich he was of holy thought and work.
He was also a learned man, a clerk,
That Christes gospel truly woulde preach;
His parishfolk devoutly would he teach.
Benign he was, and wonder diligent,
And in adversity full patient;
And such he was y-proved often times.
Full loth were him to cursen for his tythes,
But rather would he give, out of doubt,
Un-to his povre parishfolk about
Of his offering, and eke of his substance.
He could in little thing have suffisance.
Wide was his parish, and houses far a-sunder,
But he neglected not, for rain or thunder,
In sickness or in mischief, to visit
The furthest in his parish, great and little,
Upon his feet, and in his hand a staff.
This noble example to his sheep he gave,
That first he wrought, and afterward he taught.
Out of the gospel he these wordes caught;
And this figure he added eke there-to,
That if gold ruste, what shall iron do?
For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust,
No wonder is a lewed man to rust;
And shame it is, if a priest take keep,
A dirty shepherd and a cleane sheep.
Well ought a priest example for to give,
By his cleanness, how that his sheep should live.
He did not set his benefice to hire,
Nor left his sheep encumbered in the mire,
And ran to London, un-to Sainte Paul's,
To seeken him a chantery for souls,
Or with a brotherhed to be enrolled;
But dwelt at home, and kepte well his fold,
So that the wolf might make it not miscarry;
He was a shepherd and no mercenary.
And though he holy were, and virtuous,
He was to sinful man not despitous,
Not of his speeche dangerous nor digne,
But in his teaching discreet and benign.
To draw his fold to heaven by fairness
By good example, was his business.
But if were any person obstinate,
What-so he were, of high or low estate,
Him would be snibben sharply for the nonce.
A better priest, I trow that nowhere none is.
He waited for no pomp and reverence,
Nor maked him a spiced conscience,
But Christes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taught, and first he followed it himself.
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An idea to chew upon from a blog I just discovered

A blogger named Macker at a place called Pray Naked Experience posts wisdom to ponder:

.....this is how I have heard mercy defined: having something withheld from us that we deserve.

I believe you cannot dispense mercy without first understanding the true mechanics of grace: humility.

if we cannot be humble, we cannot know God's grace. if we cannot accept His grace, we cannot recognize the penalty He withheld by offering us eternal life.

and if we cannot grasp what he did for us, there is no way we will ever give in to the unnatural act of forgiving someone else.

He's earned a spot in the blogroll.....even though his title will increase my violations-of-sixth-commandment spam.
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The great lesson of the Pallium Lecture

Last night I attended the first of the Pallium Lectures (there will be two more, in early June); the topic was the relations between Catholics and Jews, the speaker was William Cardinal Keeler. There were a lot of facts and theological reflection, and a dozen or so good stories, but there was a single overall lesson:

The Lord God's covenant fidelity is forever; God never reclaims His gifts or repents of His promises. Therefore, the covenant God has made with the people Israel still stands. This is as true as any of the other truths of the faith, and is a great Mystery, since we also know that only by the Lord Jesus are we saved, yet the Lord has promised to Israel to be forever a priestly people and a royal nation and a people set apart for Him.

The Lord's fidelity is forever.... (even when, perchance, ours is not.....)
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The Parole, by Pavel Chichikov

Behind the rail the tabernacle
In the precinct of the dead
Another lives who vanquished hell
Flesh unfleshed and bloodless bled

Above the door a candle lit
Key turned leftward in the lock
So anyone can open it
It is no house, you need not knock

A key no key, a door no door
For all may enter it who will
The love of Love you may ignore
The Lord of life whom you may kill

No one goes there but the broken
Whose desperation is unspoken
None but these know the parole
Open, Love, and take my soul

Pavel Chichikov
April 11, 2003
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Update on familial prayer requests: Tom's verdict is in!

An email fron eldest younger brother Tom this morning:

Family, Friends and Brother Knights:

A Month ago I celebrated with you freedom from the hospital, after a rather major surgery, and thanked you for your prayers, especially those for my surgeon.

After seeing the Oncologist for the first time today, the news is

Come back in three months for blood tests. Keep getting healthier.

No glow-in-the-dark treatments. No Toxic chemicals to infuse. Just blood tests every quarter for a year, colonoscopy within year, to repeat annually/biennially/triennially depending on results.

Again I thank you all for your prayers. Let me know whenever I can reciprocate.

Hugs and kisses to all the kin out there. Love and Blessings to EVERYBODY!

VIVAT JESUS!

Tom Knapp
Uncle, Brother, Cook and Bottle Washer
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from a homily of Abba Macarius

When God wishes, He becomes fire, burning up every coarse passion that has taken root in the soul. "For our God is a consuming fire" (Dt. 4:24; Heb. 12:29). When He wishes, He becomes an inexpressible and mysterious rest so that the soul may find rest in God's rest. When He wishes, he becomes joy and peace, cherishing and protecting the soul.
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The Accuser of the Brethren is up to his old tricks again.....

.....except that he's going after Christian book authors instead of bishops this time. As a commentary on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2477-2479, I offer today the example of Abba Moses:

A brother in the community at Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which Abba Moses had been summoned, but he refused to go to it. So a messenger was sent to urge him, "Do come, everyone is waiting for you." So he found a very worn basket, filled it full of sand, and carried it, leaking, as he went to the council. When he arrived, the brothers went out to meet him, and asked, "What is this all about?" Abba Moses replied, "My sins run out behind me, and I do not even see them, and yet I am come here to judge the errors of someone else." On hearing this, the community called off the council and forgave their brother.

and also this small haiku from the blogkeeper known as Dylan Tenelux:

Accounting for each
idle word --- the verse shocks us
into brief silence.

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The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Extreme
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Very Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

St. Philip and St. James, apostles, and their shocking teaching

Today is the feast day of SS. Philip and James. Philip was chosen to be one of the Twelve on the second day Jesus was selecting, and he almost immediately celebrated by getting Nathaniel and Jesus together. {Nathaniel asks, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" and Philip replies, "Come and see!"] In the Gospel of John, Philip is the one to ask all of the questions the other apostles are too scared or too embarrassed to speak.. Early in the book of Acts, he evangelizes the Ethiopean official. And he had four daughters, all of whom were acknowledged prophets in the Church. He took the good news to Greece and was martyred there.

James (the Younger) became the bishop of Jerusalem, chaired the Council of Jerusalem [which solved many difficulties regarding non-Jewish believers and the Church], and was martyred by being thrown from the Temple's pinnacle. One of his letters is in the Bible: here is some of its shocking, some even say scandalous, teaching:

My brothers, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people. Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, beautifully dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes, and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say, "Come this way to the best seats"; then you tell the poor man, "Stand over there" or "You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest." Can't you see that you have used two different standards in your mind, and turned yourselves into judges, and corrupt judges at that?

Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. In spite of this, you have no respect for anybody who is poor. Isn't it always the rich who are against you? Isn't it always their doing when you are dragged before the court? Aren't they the ones who insult the honourable name to which you have been dedicated? Well, the right thing to do is to keep the supreme law of scripture: you must love your neighbor as yourself; but as soon as you make distinctions between classes of people, you are committing sin, and under condemnation for breaking the Law.

You see, if a man keeps the whole of the Law, except for one small point at which he fails, he is still guilty of breaking it all. It was the same person who said, "You must not commit adultery" and "You must not kill." Now if you commit murder, you do not have to commit adultery as well to become a breaker of the Law. Talk and behave like people who are going to be judged by the law of freedom, because there will be judgment without mercy for those who have not been merciful themselves; but the merciful need have no fear of judgment.

If you dare, read the entire Letter of James today; it is not long. It is only challenging.
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for those who work

Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and it is so because, just about everywhere except the United States, today is Labor Day. So today I indulge in prayers, meditations, maxims from holy people more well-known for their hard work for equity and justice than for their piety.

A prayer by W.E.B. DuBois [via Sursum Corda]:

Give us grace, O God, to dare to do the deed which we well know cries to be done.
Let us not hesitate because of ease, or the words of men's mouths, or our own lives.
Mighty causes are calling us--the freeing of women, the training of children, the putting down of hate and murder and poverty--all these and more.
But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifice and death.
Mercifully grant us, O God, the spirit of Esther, that we may say: I will go unto the King and if I perish, I perish.
Amen.

The valiant Mary Harris Jones said, when she was informed about a mass killing by her opponents:

We must pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.

And, an easy essay by Peter Maurin, who co-founded the Catholic Worker communities. Seventy years ago today, the very first Catholic Worker was sold for a penny a copy.

Better Or Better Off

1. The world would be better off,
if people tried to become better.

2. And people would become better
if they stopped trying to be better off.

3. For when everybody tries to become better off,
nobody is better off.

4. But when everybody tries to become better,
everybody is better off.

5. Everybody would be rich if nobody tried
to be richer.

6. And nobody would be poor if everybody tried
to be the poorest.

7. And everybody would be what he ought to be
if everybody tried to be what he wants the other fellow to be.
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today's servant of God: Bishop Walsh of Maryknoll

One of the great culture heroes of my Catholic childhood was Bishop James E. Walsh. Having helped to found the Maryknoll Missioners, he became a bishop in China, where he served faithfully for many years. He refused to evacuate when the Communist takeover happened, holding that the place of a priest and a bishop was with his people. He was arrested, and spent over a decade in prison in China, spending his time praying and working to improve his abilities in the Chinese language. In 1970, when I was a junior high schooler, he was released from prison and expelled from China, at the age of 79.

One of the sayings attributed to him in my childhood referred to the ability to say the Rosary in prison even though he was often not permitted any religious items. He said thr Rosary was particularly suited to our prayer because us humans have two rosaries attached to our bodies: our ten fingers and our ten toes.
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a sidebar correction: I have corrected the spelling of Photina's name. (I guess I hang out on too many Orthodox listservs where the "i" form is common.) Thank you, Heidi Photina, for not calling me on it :-)
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It's my name-day --- and a remembrance of even more general importance

Today is the feast of Catherine Benincasa of Siena, doctor of the Church and one who lived by the counsels but didn't become a nun. She even, for some time, lived "betwixt-between," canonically without a place and unknown or opposed by her kin, loving her Lord her Beloved in her cupboard under the stairs. May she always remember all her poor namesakes here below.

But besides being April 29th, 2003 it's also 27 Nisan 5763, and Yom haShoa Vehagevurah, the day of remembrance of those lost to the Nazi persecutions, the anniversary of the day the Warsaw Rebellion began. Remember in your prayers all those who died, and all those who, whether they succeeded or whether they lost their own lives trying, did attempt to save even one human life; especially the unfamous ones who are remembered by no one anymore. The person who saves even one life, saves the whole world. Magnified and sanctified be the Lord's great name. Amen.
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A hymn for this second Easter Sunday from St Hippolytus of Rome ..... back in the neolithic times when I was young, we called this day the second Easter.

It is Pascha; the Pascha of the Lord,
O You, Who are truly all in all!
The joy, the honor, the food and the delight of every creature;
Through You the shadows of death have fled away,
And life is given to all,
The gates of heaven are flung open.
God becomes man
and man is raised up to the likeness of God.

O divine Pascha!
O Pascha, light of new splendor,
the lamps of our souls will no more burn out.
The flame of grace,
divine and spiritual,
burns in the body and soul,
nourished by the resurrection of Christ.

We beg You, O Christ, Lord God,
eternal king of the spiritual world,
stretch out Your protecting hands
over Your holy Church
and over Your holy people;
defend them, keep them, preserve them.

Raise up Your standard over us
and grant that we may sing with Moses
the song of victory,
for Yours is the glory and the power for all eternity!
Amen.

Today is Rogation Day

As I've been reminded by Bob of CINJustAnn listserv, today is the Rogation Day, when we beg God for success and fruitfulness in our farms and gardens. Like the Ember Days, for us city-folk, it reminds us that our food does not come from the grocery store, but from the enviernmental blessings of God and the hard work of farnworkers. From Bob's email, what his community, the Oscar Romero CW House of Oklahoma City, is doing for the Rogation Day:

Today is one of the traditional Rogation Days of the Church (from Rogare, Latin for "to ask"). It is a time to ask God's blessing on fields, gardens, seeds, and farmers and gardeners. It is traditionally observed with a mass followed by a procession through fields and gardens. Sometimes small wooden crosses marked with the date are implanted on fields or nailed to trees or fence posts as a sign of the blessing.

Here in Oklahoma City, we are having mass at 6:30 PM this evening at our house, and afterwards we will process through the neighborhood to the two lots we have for community gardens, to bless them. Below are some links with ideas, prayers, and history for observing this holy day. The last link, from EWTN, has the complete text of the litanies and Rogation day prayers and the traditional mass in Latin and English.

Robert Waldrop
Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City
http://www.justpeace.org
http://www.bettertimesinfo.org
http://www.oklahomafood.org

http://www.geocities.com/milkingmom/liturgicalyr.html

http://hometown.aol.com/cfortunato/Rogation/RuralRogationDays.htm (prayers in English and Latin)

http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRAYER/RLPRAYBK.TXT

So, it's a little late for planning, but at least pray God for the fruitfulness of the earth and the safety of those who grow our food. And, if you have a garden place, or even a few rhubarbs or asparaguses, you may want to take out your bottle of holy water and give them a prayer and blessing this day.
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The first witness to the Resurrection:



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Christ is Risen! The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom

If any man be devout and loveth God,
Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!
If any man be a wise servant,
Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.

If any have laboured long in fasting,
Let him how receive his recompense.
If any have wrought from the first hour,
Let him today receive his just reward.
If any have come at the third hour,
Let him with thankfulness keep the feast.
If any have arrived at the sixth hour,
Let him have no misgivings;
Because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.
If any have delayed until the ninth hour,
Let him draw near, fearing nothing.
And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,
Let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness.

For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour,
Will accept the last even as the first.
He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour,
Even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.
And He showeth mercy upon the last,
And careth for the first;
And to the one He giveth,
And upon the other He bestoweth gifts.
And He both accepteth the deeds,
And welcometh the intention,
And honoureth the acts and praises the offering.

Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord;
Receive your reward,
Both the first, and likewise the second.
You rich and poor together, hold high festival!
You sober and you heedless, honour the day!
Rejoice today, both you who have fasted
And you who have disregarded the fast.
The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously.
The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith:
Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness.

Let no one bewail his poverty,
For the universal Kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one weep for his iniquities,
For pardon has shown forth from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
For the Saviour's death has set us free.
He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.

By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.
He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.
And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:
Hell, said he, was embittered
When it encountered Thee in the lower regions.

It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain.
It was embittered, for it was overthrown.
It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and dominion
Unto ages of ages.

Amen.
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off for my preparatory nap......because I'm going to attempt to attend Vigil tonight. Two weeks ago I tried to go to Liturgy and had to go out halfway through because the pain and exhaustion got me; I'm a little stronger now, but Vigil is long; that's why I'm going to Cathedral instead of my parish, because the Cathedral has side rooms with speakers where I can go if I need an "adult cry room," and my parish does not. Better safe than sorry. Pray for the catechumens and candidates, and I'll see you after Vigil tonight.
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In the 100's, someone wrote a letter to an official named Diognetus about "those Christians...."

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.
[snip]
To sum up all in one word --- what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.
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Today is their day: Remember our catechumens and candidates!

Katherine who loves Suscipe and doesn't write for sheep
Sean who swims in the Tiber
Mysterium Crucis' Will
Christopher who moved to Steubenville on his directed path
Heidi at Photini's Well
Joe Convert
and any others I've missed or forgotten about. [and don't forget the elect in our real-life parishes!]
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Behold, behold the wood of the cross, on which is hung our Salvation. Oh, come, let us adore!

It requires great self-denial and resignation of ourselves to God to attain that state wherein we freely cease from fighting. ....Whoever rightly attains to it, does in some degree feel that Spirit in which our Redeemer gave His life for us. (John Woolman)

Behold, behold, the wood of the cross,
on which is hung our Salvation;
O come, let us adore! (Liturgy of Good Friday)

We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You,
for by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

O my Lord, Messiah and (truly!) King,
You have been lifted up, and have triumphed.
You Yourself mend our lives, and draw us to Yourself,
and make Yourself our greatest yearning, greatest gift.

We who lifted You up from the earth ---
not far, not nearly to the sky, let alone the heavens ---
intending only evil; or not intending at all, "just following orders,"
just another execution in a busy day

It was for us that You took everything we gave,
that You offered Yourself, unresisting,
(and You, our Messiah and Lord, are God;
You had the power to save Yourself)
so that when we had done our very worst
Your forgiveness and Your triumph would rescue us,
very thankful and truly humble.

We know what we have done.
We know of what we are capable.
We look upon Your cross
and our sin remains before us,
we cannot ignore the truth of ourselves.

We deny You. We are cowards and run away from You.
We drag You all over the city, from courtroom to courtroom.
For You, our King, we weave a crown of thornbush to force upon Your head.
We beat You. We mock You. We parade You through the streets.
We disdignify You, stripping You of everything.
And, clothed only in welts and bruises and Your own blood,
we nail You to a cross to torture You to death.

Our sin is always before us,
and yet,
and yet,
so also is Your mercy,
so also Your forgiveness,
so also Your great offering.

And, in time's fullness,
the sign of Jonah ---
even Death itself is conquered, vanquished;
so we might proceed from life to Life true and eternal,
Life that knows no end.
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"The Eucharistic Church" is now online....

The Pope's latest encyclical, on the Holy Eucharist, is released and available at the link in the headline.
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Template tampering done this afternoon

Thanks for the patience of all those who've been waiting for me to update their links....... done.
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Getting ready for the war to end and the warriors to come home --- are we ready?

In a few weeks or a few months the war will be, for practical purposes, over. Our warriors will be coming home again.

Let us for now not think of who was fer and who was agin going to war. That doesn't matter now. Whether any war is good or bad, unjust or just, or even unaviodable, the fruits of war are evil, for the victors as much or even more than the conquered. Are we ready to serve our warriors as they come home? Most of them are not "career military," and in their real life would never ever solve a problem by violence --- and some of them will have had to do things with which they cannot live. Guilt and doubt and trials of conscience and faith, and nightmares...... we must not abandon our sisters and brothers when they come home, no matter what. We did just that when the warriors came back after tours of duty in Vietnam, and we must not again.

Those of us who are the ones people come to when they need listened-to [you know who you are] and our priests need to be preparing now in prayer, and in consciousness of the entire scope of passion and death and resurrection and of the primacy of hope. Also, in practicing not being shocked, or at least not echoing shock, for some of the things that happen in war are horror-making. Some people will need to speak of things they did that officially "didn't happen," like the soldier from Gulf War I who told his priest who is now a cardinal about his action in burying opponent soldiers alive.

We've at least a few weeks to prepare: we must pray and stay strong for what will come, and be ready to listen and to weep.
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for all of you who have been praying for eldest younger brother Thomas:
Free at Last, Free at Last, emails a newly liberated Tom!

Family, friends, Brother Knights and Colleagues ---

I am finally at home after the ordeal. Hospital food! Beautiful Nurses! Surgeons and assorted other Doctors of Medicine. Combined with the home prep before the surgery, that's a week down the chute to the Path lab.....

The surgeon says that everything is copascetic, except for the size of the mass they removed. It is classified a T3 carcinoma, based on size, and factors concerning the likelihood of metastatization (try that one three times fast!!) Whether I get to spend time with an oncologist will depend on how the discussion between the surgeon, the colonoscoper, and my primary care physician go before my appointments next week. Twenty five clean lymph nodes. No signs of abnormality in the overexcavation into my back. The surgeon says to expect about three weeks of recovery, just to get the colons working right again.

That's all for now. Thanks for the prayers and other offerings. See some of you soon, others a little later.

Thomas Knapp PE
Senior Engineer
[snipping longish list of titles that various people know him by, but concluding with....]
Big Brother and Oldest Uncle Knapp
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Posting will be sporadic --- please pardon me

Just now recovering from 4-day bout with the intestinal bug. The incision has come open by itself; I see the surgeon tomorrow so he can try to patch it up. Went to Mass Sunday [didn't realize I had the bug until too late to cancel the 6:45 am ride] but shouldn't have; at the homily I had to leave Mass for somewhere I could put my head down.

Summary: I'm too busy being sick and in pain and being a good patient to put a lot of attention here right now. I'll drop in whenever I can, please be patient and do not forget me.
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Another meditation from St. Ephrem the Syrian in this joyous season of Lent

Thou to Whom the penitent are pleasing, incline Thyself to me, a sinner. Fill me with the crumbs from the table of Thy great banquet; do not let my life perish at the left side in darkness. May Thy truth not behold the terrible impurity of my misery in that great morning when the sentence unto eternity shall be pronounced.

The joy of this world is bitter. Woe to him who is seduced by it! As a boat is tossed by waves, so is my life convulsed by my misery. Vain joy captures it with the illusion of satisfaction. Be Thou my helmsman and steer my ship to Thy harbor in that great morning when the sentence unto eternity shall be pronounced.

God loves the sinner when he comes to repentance and, with his eyes full of tears, sighing and sobbing, he cries out to Him: O our Lord, deliver me from fire! I pray thee, accept the tears of my misery. Voluntarily have I sinned before Thee, yet voluntarily do I also repent.

So come forth boldly, O sinner. The door is already open and ready to receive you. Bring the Lord a sacrifice or tears and go freely to Him. He does not demand gifts, nor does He have any respect of persons. He is kindhearted to men and willingly forgives the sins of
repentant sinners.
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Update: my brother Tom's medical adventures

Got an email from Jimbo (James Philip), another of my brothers, who shares a house with Tom in Long Beach. He writes:

As you probably know Tom had intestinal surgery Wed. the 2nd. The doc took a baseball size lump out of his intestinal area then removed part of his large intestine. He seems to be doing quite well all things considered! From what I heard he got up today and was walking around ok. If everything stays ok, it looks like he be coming home maybe Saturday, but more likely Sunday.

Praise God! [Now for a decent pathology report on that baseball.....]
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Why nobody wants to pay for poor people's medical care

I got a form letter from Columbia-St. Mary's today, the group that runs St. Mary's Hospital, informing me that they have billed my insurance company for my recent stay with them.

18 days hospitalization, 3 of them in med-surg ICU, don't know if bill includes the surgeon: $66,619.56

Back when I was working that would be three year's gross income!
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The new General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM) is out! and I've read it through.

[pdf file: Acrobat Reader needed to read link]
Now I can point to the paragraphs in black and white that prove that what we do in my parish has nothing to do with "horrific abuses," but is just the way it's supposed to be, or permitted to be! [things like processing with Book of Gospels and placing it on altar; Tabernacle in well-appointed place near sanctuary; processions in general....]
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Facing up to the mystery of suffering: more wisdom from All God's People, my only post-1000 Lenten reading.....

Lent, too, also forces us again to face up to the mystery of suffering. We know, in faith, that suffering can be redemptive, if only we can find a way of uniting ourselves with Jesus in his own passion and death. Our faith tells us that our trials and hurts are not in vain. We cannot avoid them if we want to live fully, and thus there must be a positive and redemptive feature about them. The example I would like to point out in the Lenten season also is Mary. So often her sufferings are brought to our attention and might help us in analyzing and making sense out of our own situation. Mary suffered because she was so closely united to Jesus in love and affection as well as by parental bond. Her suffering was not the martyr's physical endurance test, but that of the one in love seeing the loved one suffer. To stand helplessly by and see another whom one loves suffer --- senselessly and unjustly --- is the deepest kind of suffering. We call that "compassion" --- to suffer with another. The Church sees its model in Mary. Thus we, as Christians, also have something to learn from Mary about what compassion and suffering mean.

First of all, we must learn, all of us, that being united in affection and love with Jesus is the basis of Christian discipleship. Because of that union we can have compassion when we meditate on his sufferings and death. Like Mary, we stand helplessly by.

One should, however, go one step further in this understanding of Mary's love and, thus, of her compassion. We know that Jesus accepted his cross and death because of his love for us. He had compassion on us. He identified, in love, with our human suffering and took it upon himself. So, if we are one with him in love and affection, we must also be one with every one of our suffering brothers and sisters whom he loves. Love of him, compassion on his sufferings, implies love of those he loves and compassion on their sufferings.

Mary, we know, became at that moment of his suffering our Mother. Jesus, dying, presented her to us. She is the model, then, of one who is united to our suffering as she was to her Son's. She is united to all whom he loves.

If Mary is the model of the Church, then what kind of Church must we be? Without doubt --- a compassionate one. Redemptive love is possible if we are united with the Redeemer. All of his suffering led to resurrection and the triumph of life over death. One with him in suffering (compassion) leads to one with him in resurrection. Jesus loved us so much as to suffer death for us. Mary, because she loved him so, suffered to see him suffer. She became our Mother and suffers, in love, for and with us. As model of the Church, she thus teaches us to be united, in our suffering, to Jesus in his suffering and in this way to all of those he loves. United with him in suffering we will be united with him in resurrection. A compassionate Church is a redeemed and loving Church.

[Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B., All God's People, Paulist Press, 1985, pp.168-170]
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Personal things update

Just back from the surgeon's, all stitches are out, he says healing is progressing well. Also, today is prep day for brother Tom's surgery tomorrow (right bowel resection). Keep on praying....
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On dying and rising; from the only "modern" work in my Lenten reading this year.

Lord Jesus, you had to die. In becoming a human being like us you did not exempt yourself from that event that is most human --- that is, dying.

Yet, in the Gospel narrative by St. John, you are always Lord of death. You lay down your life in response to your Father's will. Death, according to John, is that sinful state which separates from God, which drags us down, which leaves us a prey to the flesh, to the powers of evil. By meeting this kind of sinful death head-on you robbed death of its power, Lord. By emptying yourself for others you made death a way of life. But emptying yourself was done through love. It is love which conquers death. Death is sin and hatred and selfishness. Life is goodness and kindness. This you taught us, Jesus, by example.

You told us, too, dear Lord, if we would come after you, that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow you. How unromantic this is, Jesus! But if your cross is to die to hate and to learn to love as you did, then I see how your yoke could be sweet!

Just as we move daily toward physical death, so, dear Lord, should we be dying to sin. In that way our physical death will be, as in your case, the result of and the sign of an interior dying to self. You taught us, however, Lord, that dying with you means rising with you. Baptism is a cycle; it is entering into your cycle of dying to sin and rising to new life. Our life is not a journey on a continuous path toward inevitable death, but a daily dying and rising. The seed of our dying, Jesus, is creative of new life. When sin and selfishness die, there is room for goodness and joy. When hate dies, there is room for love.

Again, your disciple John wrote: "That we have passed from death to life we know because we love each other. One who does not love is among the living dead." (1 Jn 3:14) The way we came to understand love was that you laid down your life, Jesus, for us; we, too, must lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

A Benedictine friend of mine from Arkansas told me the following story, Jesus. You will like it. It took place in the mid-1960's......A young college graduate was spending his first year out of school working for voter registration among the blacks of eastern Arkansas. It was dangerous work. The monks asked him one day if he had suffered violence because of his efforts. He quietly told of the times he had been beaten with chains, kicked, and spat upon. "Why didn't you fight back?" the monks asked him. "At first I did," he responded. "But then I realized that hate must die. If I respond to hate in kind, it bounces off me back into the world. It continues to arch out and harm people. Somewhere this hate has to come to rest. I know now that I must let it die in my body."

Jesus, let hate die in all our bodies, so that slowly this world can be transformed. Love is born of hate that dies.

Suffering and sadness, morbidity and pessimism are not the story of Good Friday, Lord. Nor is bubbly, flighty giddiness the story of Easter Sunday. Our vibrant joy of Easter will come, Lord, when we have died to violence, hatred, dishonesty, greed, and passion. Teach us the meaning of Good Friday, Jesus, so that we can rise with you each day in Easter joy. Teach us each time we join with others at the Eucharist that it is our Good Friday and Easter Sunday, too. It is our dying and rising. Each sacrament, Lord Jesus, we know is our insertion into your paschal mystery. Keep us aware of you as we bring our daily crosses to be transformed and resurrected.

Amen.

[Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B., All God's People, Paulist Press, 1985, pp. 134-136]
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on steadfastness and unscandalizability, from the desert Christians....

An old man was asked, "How can a fervent brother not be shocked when he sees others returning to the world?" And the elder replied, "Watch the dogs who chase rabbits. When one of them has seen a rabbit, he pursues it until he catches it, without being concerned with anything else. The others, seeing the dog launched in pursuit, run with it for a short time and soon come back. Only the one who has seen the rabbit follows it till he catches it, not letting himself be turned from his course by those who go back, and not caring about the ravines, rocks, and undergrowth. So it is with him who seeks Christ as Master; ever mindful of the Cross, he cares nothing about any of the scandals that occur, till he reaches the Crucified One."
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a prayer from St. Symeon the New Theologian, who was new in the late 900's. Seems that St Ephrem and St Symeon are monopolizing my Lenten praying this year ....

Come, O true light!
Come, O eternal life!
Come, O hidden mystery!
Come, O indescribable treasure!
Come, O ineffable thing!
Come, O inconceivable person!
Come, O endless delight!
Come, O unsetting light!
Come, O true and fervent expectation
of all those who will be saved!
Come, O rising of those who lie down!
Come, O resurrection of the dead!
Come, O powerful one,
who always creates and re-creates and transforms
by your will alone!
Come, O invisible and totally intangible and untouchable!
Come, O you who always remain immobile
and at each moment move all,
and come to us, who lie in hades,
you who are above all heavens.
Come, O desirable and legendary name,
which is completely impossible for us
to express what you are or to know your nature.
Come, O eternal joy!
Come, O unwithering wreath!
Come, O purple of the great king our God!
Come, O crystalline cincture, studded with precious stones!
Come, O inaccessible sandal!
Come, O royal robe and truly imperial right hand!
Come, you whom my wretched soul has desired and does desire!
Come, you who alone go to the lonely
for as you see I am lonely!
Come, you who have separated me from everything
and made me solitary in this world!
Come, you who have become yourself desire in me,
who have made me desire you,
the absolutely inaccessible one!
Come, O my breath and life!
Come, O consolation of my humble soul!
Come, O my joy, my glory, and my endless delight!
I thank you that you have become one spirit with me,
without confusion, without mutation,
without transformation, you the God of all;
and that you have become everything for me,
inexpressible and perfectly gratuitous nourishment,
which ever flows to the lips of my soul
and gushes out into the fountain of my heart,
dazzling garment which burns the demons,
purification which bathes me
with these imperishable and holy tears,
that your presence brings to those whom you visit.
I give you thanks
that for me you have become unsetting light and non-declining sun;
for you who fill the universe with your glory
have nowhere to hide yourself.
No, you have never hidden yourself from anyone
but we are the ones who always hide from you,
by refusing to go to you;
but then, where would you hide,
you who nowhere find the place of your repose?
Why would you hide,
you who do not turn away from a single creature,
who do not reject a single one?
Today, then, O Master,
come pitch your tent with me;
until the end, make your home
and live continually, inseparably within me,
your slave, O most-kind one,
that I also may find myself again in you,
at my departure from this world
and after my departure may I reign with you,
O God who are above everything.
O Master, stay and do not leave me alone,
so that my enemies, arriving unexpectedly,
they who are always seeking to devour my soul,
may find you living within me
and that they may take flight,
in defeat, powerless against me,
seeing you, O more powerful than everything,
installed interiorly in the home of my poor soul.
Yea, O Master, just as you remembered me,
when I was in the world
and, in the midst of my ignorance,
you chose me and separated me from this world
and set me before your glorious face,
so now keep me interiorly,
by your dwelling within me,
forever upright, resolute;
that by perpetually seeing you,
I, the corpse, may live;
that by possessing you,
I, the beggar, may always be rich, richer than kings;
that by eating you and by drinking you,
by putting you on at each moment,
I go from delight to delight in inexpressible blessings;
for it is you,
who are all good and all glory and all delight
and it is to you,
holy, consubstantial, and life-creating Trinity
that the glory belongs,
you whom all faithful venerate, confess, adore, and serve
in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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Happy Annunciation Day!

I've mostly been taking it easy, doing what needs doing to take care of myself, and not much else. For the sake of both my swollen legs, I'm treating myself to a nap every afternoon --- and so far, my eighty stitches are healing as well as can be expected, says the nurse who comes to look at them twice a week. Keep on praying that I heal up right. Also for Dad, who needs artery bypasses in his legs but needs to pass a stress test first, and for my eldest younger brother Tom, who's going to surgery on the 2nd to remove a "suspicious lesion" from his colon..... Is this the special season for Knapps being laid up?
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more words from St. Ephrem the Syrian

Make me whole, O Lord, and I will become whole! O only wise and merciful Physician, I beseech Thy benevolence: heal the wounds of my soul and enlighten the eyes of my mind that I may understand my place in Thine eternal design! And inasmuch as my heart and mind have been disfigured, may Thy grace repair them, for it is as true salt.

What shall I say to Thee, O Knower of the heart who searchest the heart and the inner workings of men? Indeed, Thou knowest that, like a waterless land, my soul thirsts after Thee and my heart longs for Thee. And Thy grace has always sated those that love Thee.

Thus, as Thou hast always heard me, so now do not scorn my prayer. For Thou seest that my mind, like a prisoner, seeks Thee, the
Only true Savior.

Send Thy grace, that it may satisfy my hunger and quench my thirst. For insatiably do I desire Thee, O my Master! And who can have enough of Thee if he truly loves Thee and thirsts for Thy truth?

O Giver of light! Fulfill my supplications and grant me Thy gifts according to my prayer; impart to my heart just one drop of Thy grace, that the flame of Thy love may begin to burn in my heart; and, like a fire, may it consume evil thoughts like thorns and thistles!

Give me all this in abundance; grant it to me as God unto man, as the King to His subjects, and increase it as a kind Father.
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Tertullian on being victorious in battle

Is the laurel crown of military triumph made of leaves, or of corpses?
Is it adorned with ribbons, or with tombs?
Is it wet with ointments, or with the tears of wives and mothers?
It may be made of some Christians too.
For Christ is also believed among the barbarians.
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St. John Chrysostom on fasting

Do you fast?
Give me proof of it by your works.

If you see someone who is poor, take pity on that person.
If you see a friend being honored, do not be envious.
Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eyes, and the feet, and the hands and all the member of our bodies.

Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice.
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful.
Let the ears by not listening to evil talk and gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.

For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes,
but bite and devour our brothers and sisters?
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from the Akathist Hymn to the Divine Passion of Christ

Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of the Living God,
Creator of Heaven and earth,
Saviour of the world,

Behold I who am unworthy and of all men most sinful,
humbly bow the knee of my heart before the glory of Thy majesty
and praise Thy Cross and Passion,
and offer thanksgiving to Thee,
the King and God of all,
that Thou wast pleased to bear as man all labours and hardships,
all temptations and tortures,
that Thou mightest be our Fellow-sufferer and Helper,
and a Saviour to all of us in all our sorrows, needs, and sufferings.

I know, O all-powerful Lord,
that all these things were not necessary for Thee,
but for us men and for our salvation
Thou didst endure Thy Cross and Passion
that Thou mightest redeem us from all cruel bondage to the enemy.

What, then, shall I give in return to Thee, O Lover of mankind,
for all that Thou hast suffered for me, a sinner?
I cannot say,
for soul and body and all blessings come from Thee,
and all that I have is Thine,
and I am Thine.
Yet I know that love is repaid only by love.
Teach me, then, to love and praise Thee.

Trusting solely in Thine infinite compassion and mercy, O Lord,
I praise Thine unspeakable patience,
I magnify Thine unutterable exhaustion,
I glorify Thy boundless mercy,
I adore Thy purest Passion,
and most lovingly kissing Thy wounds, I cry:
Have mercy on me a sinner,
and cause that Thy holy Cross may not be fruitless in me,
that I may participate here with faith in Thy sufferings
and be vouchsafed to behold also the glory of Thy Kingdom in Heaven.

Amen.
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A bishop stands with and shepherds his people

The Lenten statement of the bishop of the Romanian Eparchy of St. George in Canton:

March 7, 2003

Beloved brothers and sisters in our Lord, Jesus Christ,

Great Lent, which we now begin, is traditionally a time in which we take stock of ourselves, our lives, and the direction in which we are headed. In the common language of the Catholic Church, it is a time for a deep "examination of conscience" as we fast, pray, and otherwise attend to the call for repentance issued by the Church for the forty days before we celebrate the Resurrection of her savior, Jesus Christ.

A serious examination of conscience requires that we recognize that there are times in the life of each Christian when one's faith is seriously and urgently challenged by the events taking place around him or her. Like it or not, these challenges show us just how seriously --- or not --- we are living our baptismal commitment to Christ. Most of us, most of the time, would prefer to keep our heads in the sand, ostrich-like, than to face truths about ourselves. This is why the Church has found it so vitally necessary to have seasons, such as Lent, during which we must pull our heads out of the sand and take a good, hard look at the world around us and how we are living in it.

We cannot fail, as we examine our consciences, to take into account the most critical challenge presented to our faith in our day: the fact that the United States government is about to initiate a war against the people of Iraq. For Romanian Catholics who are also United States citizens, this raises an immediate and unavoidable moral issue of major importance. Specifically stated the issue is this: does the killing of human beings in this war constitute murder?

The Holy Gospels reveal our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ to be nonviolent. In them, Jesus teaches a Way of life that his disciples are to follow, a Way of nonviolent love of friends and enemies. However, since the latter half of the fourth century the Church has proposed standards that, if met, would make it morally permissible for Christians to depart from that way in order to engage in war. These standards have come to be known in popular language as the "Catholic Just War Theory."

According to this theory, if all of the conditions it specifies are adhered to, the killing that is done in fighting a war may be justifiable and therefore morally allowable. This theory also teaches that if any one of the standards is not met, then the killing that occurs is unjust and therefore morally impermissible. Unjust killing is by definition murder. Murder is intrinsically evil and therefore absolutely forbidden, no matter what good may seem to come of it.

The Church teaches that good ends do not justify the use of evil means. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states this principle succinctly: "One may never do evil so that good may result from it." (1789) One contemporary example of this would be abortion. Abortion is intrinsically evil; hence regardless of the good that may seem to issue from it, a Catholic may never participate in it.

Paragraph 2309 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy" (emphasis added). Since war is about the mass infliction of death and suffering on children of God, Christians can enter into it and fight in it only if the war in question strictly meets all the criteria of the just war theory, and only if these same standards are likewise meticulously observed in the course of fighting the war. Vague, loose, freewheeling, conniving, relaxed interpretations of Catholic just war theory and its application are morally illegitimate because of "the gravity of such a decision." "The evaluation of these conditions of the just war theory for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good," states the Catechism. (2309) However, the nation-state is never the final arbiter or authority for the Catholic of what is moral or for what is good for the salvation of his or her soul. What is legal can be evil and often has been. Jesus Christ and his Church, not the state, are the ultimate informers of conscience for the Catholic.

This is why the Church teaches as a norm of conscience the following: "If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order such arrangements would not be binding in conscience." (Catechism 1903). She also warns "Blind obedience [to immoral laws] does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out" (Catechism 2313). When a moral conflict arises between Church teaching and secular morality, when contradictory moral demands are made upon a Catholic's conscience, he or she "must obey God rather than man" (Acts 5:29).

Because such a moment of moral crisis has arisen for us, beloved Romanian Catholics, I must now speak to you as your bishop. Please be aware that I am not speaking to you as a theologian or as a private Christian voicing his opinion, nor by any means am I speaking to you as a political partisan. I am speaking to you solely as your bishop with the authority and responsibility I, though a sinner, have been given as a successor to the apostles on your behalf. I am speaking to you from the deepest chambers of my conscience as your bishop, appointed by Jesus Christ in his Body, the Church, to help shepherd you to sanctity and to heaven. Never before have I spoken to you in this manner, explicitly exercising the fullness of authority Jesus Christ has given his Apostles
"to bind and to loose," (cf. John 20:23), but now "the love of Christ compels" me to do so (2 Corinthians 5:14). My love for you makes it a moral imperative that I not allow you, by my silence, to fall into grave evil and its incalculable temporal and eternal consequences.

Humanly speaking, I would much prefer to keep silent. It would be far, far easier for me and my family simply to let events unfold as they will, without commentary or warning on my part. But what kind of shepherd would I be if I, seeing the approach of the wolf, ran away from the sheep (cf. John 10:12-14)? My silence would be cowardly and, indeed, sinful. I believe that Christ, whose flock you are, expects more than silence from me on behalf of the souls committed to my protection and guidance.

Therefore I, by the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See Bishop of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, must declare to you, my people, for the sake of your salvation as well as my own, that any direct participation and support of this war against the people of Iraq is objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin. Beyond a reasonable doubt this war is morally incompatible with the Person and Way of Jesus Christ. With moral certainty I say to you it does not meet even the minimal standards of the Catholic just war theory.

Thus, any killing associated with it is unjustified and, in consequence, unequivocally murder. Direct participation in this war is the moral equivalent of direct participation in an abortion. For the Catholics of the Eparchy of St. George, I hereby authoritatively state that such direct participation is intrinsically and gravely evil and therefore absolutely forbidden.

My people, it is an incontestable Biblical truth that a sin left unnamed will propagate itself with lavish zeal. We must call murder by its right name: murder. God and conscience require nothing less if the face of the earth is to be renewed and if the salvation offered by Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ is to reach all people, including us. We have no choice before the face of God but to speak unambiguously to the moral situation with which we are confronted and to live according to the Will of Him who gazes at us from the Cross (Catechism 1785).

Let us pray for each other and take care of each other in this spiritually trying time. To this end our Church is wholeheartedly
committed to the support of any of our members in the military or government service who may be confronted with situations of legal jeopardy due to their need to be conscientious objectors to this war. Let us also pray in earnest with the Mother of God, who knows what it is to have her Child destroyed before her eyes, that the destruction of families, lives, minds and bodies that war unleashes will not take place.

Finally, my brothers and sisters in Christ, be assured that Our Lord is aware that our "No" to murder and our prayers for peace are our faithful response to his desires. He will remember this forever and ever, and so it is to him we must now turn, in him we must now trust.

Amen.

Sincerely in Christ-God,

(Most Reverend) John Michael Botean
a sinner, bishop


There are many great and important things that are worth dying for; but what can be so great and important that it is worth killing for?
The war has begun. Pray for the dead and the dying and for all the innocents who will suffer, especially the children.
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Home Sweet Anchor Hold!

I was discharged to _home_ this afternoon; have just finished killing about 4500 backed-up emails and can now send. Thanks for your diligent prayer, and special thanks to Mark S and Gerard and my siblings Christine and Michael for getting the word to you. The flowers and cards were especially appreciated [I've a ton of thank-you notes to write!]

This isn't the first time that I went to my normal 3-month's doctor's appointment and ended up in the hospital. A chronic open wound I've had for many years, known to family and close friends as "the notorious spot with no skin," was acting up again, getting deeper and leaking more and fouler, so I was going to ask the doctor for a new referral to outpatient wound care (for the half-a dozenth time). He took one look and one sniff and told me I wasn't getting my referral and I wasn't going home.

Instead, I got admitted to the hospital, attached to a IV of antibiotics, and surrounded by contact isolation posters while they cultured my blood and my wound drippage and every other thing they could get --- making sure any exotic bugs I might have had didn't escape to the rest of the hospital. On Monday 3/3 the isolation was lifted, the cultures came back from the lab with only garden variety germs, no exotic-and-deadlies.

And my doctor spoke to some specialists (infectious disease specialist, surgeon) and to me and to my HMO; and it was agreed that yet another round of wound care nurses was likely to be futile, and the real solution was to get rid of the piece of unusual anatomy that the wound was on, called an abdominal apron. So on 3/6, after a lot of antibiotics and transfusions (eventually 8 units of red cells and 4 of plasma), I had a "removal of infected panniculae," which is what they call an abdominoplasty when it isn't cosmetic.

Thanks to all the prayers, I am recovering surprisingly well, though I've still got two long rows of stitches all the way across my tummy left to right that need to stay in at least two more weeks, and other recovering to do since my balance has changed radically and my hips move in ways they haven't done for decades (I need to practice moving; in hospital I was on twice-a day physical therapy....) And, as a bonus, my tummy now stops at the pelvic bone like everybody else's!

It's going to take me a few days to get caught up with things and back to regular posting, please be patient and the hiatus will end very shortly. Thanks again for all your prayers, and keep them up; now the incisions have to heal properly!
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I am off ventilator keep on praying

The doctor took me off the ventilator Yesterday and say I am looking very good better than they hoped . But I am still in ICU. I appreciate all your prayers keep it up I hope to be back with you soon. Happy Lent!
{Transcribed by Mike Knapp bro. not a Typist}