Pope Benedict - servant of the Truth and friend of Jesus

After serving evening Mass for the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Mother of God, then adoration with benediction afterwards - I have just heard the sad news that my beloved hero in the faith, Pope Benedict has passed away. 

No one has influenced me more than this gentle man of God, who one day I believe will not only be proclaimed a Saint but also a Doctor of the Church. He taught me that faith must able be from an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, who is Love made flesh, but also Truth made flesh. Faith and reason, truth in love that gives life. This personal encounter is transformational and finds it’s apex in participation in the Liturgy of the Church, particularly in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is cosmic whilst also deeply personal, that needs to overflow into our everyday life through patience with others, helping people feel loved and wanted. This overflow of love always needs to begin from the confidence that God loves me, has willed me, has a purpose for me - but most importantly that God loves me, and calls me to share in the blessedness of the Holy Trinity through my union with Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  So all our activity and identity when based in Christ is not only Trinitarian and Liturgical - but also ecclesial. It fosters communion through the Church and in dialogue with others.  Through communion with others in the Church there is no longer room for ego or selfishness, but instead the service to truth needs to upbuild the Church which is the Kingdom of God here on earth. So any renewal in the Church or the world needs to come from within, from my own personal holiness and encounter with Christ who loves me and knows me as a brother and friend. This is what is means to be a saint. Someone who has embraced Christ so much that they can’t help but bring others to share in that same embrace, bringing Christ to all and bringing others to Christ. That is why united to Christ, I can pray to God as “Our Father” - because Jesus my Lord, friend and brother shares his intimacy with the Father now with me. Secure in this foundation, there’s no need for fear or worry, but trusting in the goodness of God and His love, then like Mary, the more I say “Yes” to God and live in that open attitude of receptivity, then I can learn to glorify Him and bring Him to others, sharing the gift of faith. 

Thankyou for your years of service to the Church as a Priest, Bishop, theologian and as Pope. Thankyou for your gentle manner of explaining the faith with childlike devotion and at the same time with intellectual vigour. Thankyou for your humility in trying to address structural issues in the Church, for providing the theological groundwork to recentre the Liturgy within the continuum of tradition. 

Finally, thankyou for purifying the Petrine Ministry to separate the person of the Pope from the Office of the Papacy, so that we can avoid any dangerous cult of personality and always remember that the Pope is the guardian of Tradition who has the mandate to “feed the sheep” (John 21:15-17) with the Word of God. 

—— 

Saints of God, come to his aid!

Hasten to meet him, angels of the Lord!

R. Receive his soul and present him to God the Most High.

May Christ, who called you, take you to himself; may angels lead you to the bosom of Abraham.

R. Receive his soul and present him to God the Most High.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

R. Receive his soul and present him to God the Most High.

 

May the Choirs of Angels Come to greet you.

May they lead you to paradise.

May our Lord enfold you, in his mercy, May he give you eternal life.

Well done good and faithful servant.. enter into the joy of the Lord (Matthew 25:23)

Martyrdom and the joy of Christmas?

Today the Church celebrates the strange but beautiful and sad Feast of the Holy Innocents. 

During this time of joy, the Church has given us two martyrdoms to celebrate during the Christmas Octave - 26th December St Stephen the Deacon and now the Holy Innocents. You may be thinking to yourself - Why is the Church obsessed with martyrdom and why are we celebrating the horrible massacre of little babies and young boys? 

This is because the Church has always had a special veneration for the martyrs. Martyrs as witnesses to Christ are seen as the Christian par excellence, those who died for Christ share in a unique and special way in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. They were killed for him and now share in the fullness of redemption in heaven with him. Jesus did not take away suffering or death - but he redeemed and transformed it. This is why he was born, to free is from our sins and to defeat the power of death. So now the martyrs are the “first fruits” of the work of Christ and so we remember them and celebrate them in a special way, who now share in the new life in Christ. 

At the king’s command these innocent babies and little children were put to death; they died for Christ, and now in the glory of heaven as they follow him, the sinless Lamb, they sing for ever: Glory to you, O Lord.

(Benedictus Antiphon) 

But who are the Holy Innocents? 

These were the young boys under the age of 2 killed by King Herod (Matthew 2:16–18). Herod was worried that the Messiah would dethrone him and he woiuld lose his power as the Messiah was to be the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2-4). These young children killed for Christ as witnesses to him are also reminiscent of the young boys killed by Pharoah (Exodus 1:22). So this helps to highlight that Jesus the Christ child, is the New Moses who brings us out of slavery to sin and establishes the Church as the New Israel who worships in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24) 

These Holy Innocents were killed for no other reason but because of Christ. They were killed because of Christ, and interestingly enough they were killed in his place. So the paradox here is that by dying for Christ, they now partake of the blessings of the death of Christ who also died for them. This is why they have been referred to as the Martyr Flowers who are the buds and shoots of the new fruit of the Gospel. Death no longer has the final word - but Jesus does (Revelation 1:18). 

The Collect for today highlights that although as children they could not speak, by their death proclaimed Christ himself because that’s exactly why they were killed. So this is why the Church remembers and celebrates them as martyrs. 

Through the intercession of the Holy Innocents, may we too proclaim Christ by our life and words to share in his victory over death. 

O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed
and proclaimed on this day,
not by speaking but by dying,
grant, we pray,
that the faith in you which we confess with our lips
may also speak through our manner of life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

The adorable humanity of Christ - Love Incarnate

I hope you have all had a wonderful blessed Christmas! 

As we spend this time in celebration with family, friends, food and presents. Let us not forget to spend some time in awe meditating on the meaning of God becoming a little baby out of love for us. 

There’s many things we can meditate on, firstly, there’s the messianic prophecies in the Bible. Then there’s much beautiful typology in the Church Fathers that brings out the fulfillment of symbolism from the Bible and the birth of Jesus Christ. Examples of this are Jesus the New Adam born from the virgin earth of the Virgin Mary to recreate humanity, the link between the Eucharist and Bethlehem meaning “House of Bread” and Jesus in a manger (feeding trough), the gifts of the 3 kings symbolising the divinity, death and kingship of Christ etc.. even his being wrapped in swaddling cloths foreshadowed his death that he came to die for us and chose to experience out of love for us. 

More specifically is the insight from majority of the Church Fathers on God becoming human to raise up our fallen humanity to share in His divinity - this is called the “Wondrous exchange”, and summarised by the old patristic expression of “God became man, so man could become gods” (Sts Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria, Augustine, Maximus the Confessor, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory Nazianzus, Basil).  This is further developed into the doctrine of Theosis which is also known as Divinisation - where through grace we are sanctified and divinised to share in the Divine Life of the Trinity (2 Peter 1:4). 

Another beautiful thing I came across yesterday are these insights from St Thomas Aquinas on the Incarnation. The humanity of Jesus becoming a little child helps us to see the beauty of humanity, the innocence of babies and how God became “cute” or loveable as a little baby who we now worship and adore. All truly heartwarming and wonderful things to consider this Christmas, especially for those of you who are parents. The Eternal Invisible God now has a face and body just like ours. 

The Incarnation shows is the dignity of our humanity and our own bodies. God is worshipped physically and our own bodies will be raised to immortality at the Resurrection. Our bodies will share in the glory of the Resurrected Jesus in the same manner that the Eternal Word of God shared in our humanity by being born as a helpless little baby in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. The closeness and tenderness of God was manifested in the birth of Jesus, but still continues in the Sacraments of the Church and through our communion with eachother in the Mystical Body of the Church. 

God was willing to experience nakedness, cold, pain, helplessness, homelessness, persecution, rejection and death - all to have intimacy and union with you and me! All suffering is now redeemed and we can even experience God through suffering because it has now been transformed. God is always present to us and with us, no matter what - in our joys and struggles, in our relationships and loneliness. This is what we celebrate at Christmas, the miracle of God in the flesh - Love Incarnate. 

O come let us adore Him! Christ the Lord, our Saviour and Redeemer.

Does your faith bring you joy?

I have found this to be true in my own spiritual life. How about you? 

For most of us, our faith is lived as an obligation to fulfill, something burdensome, a box to be ticked off so we can say we are a "good" person. But it does not transform our lives. 

How many Catholics have you met who are considered "devout" Catholics that attend Mass on Sundays and pray, but yet they are often unhappy, bitter, angry or self righteous people. Where is their joy?

Often they focus on how bad and evil the world is. How corrupt everyone else is, how sinful everyone else is - the focus is always on everyone else, and not themselves or their own sins and struggles. This leads to pride, self righteousness, resentment and worse of all, bitterness. Or in scriptural language, this is phariseeism. (Luke 18:11)

When we understand the Good News of Salvation and it touches our heart, then we do not need to walk about preaching to others, but instead our entire way of living would be a moment of evangelisation (Isaiah 52:7). We would invite people to "Come and See" the Saviour (John 1:39-41) who loves me personally (Galatians 2:20), and also loves them. The Good News of the Gospel is to be shared, not forced upon people (Matthew 10:14-16).

 

If we really believed and understood our faith, we would be shouting it from the rooftops! (Isaiah 40:9, Matthew 10:27)

If our faith was an encounter with the Living God, and not an obligation to be fulfilled - then we would have joy. The beauty of holiness (Psalm 96:9) would shine forth in our life, that we would not even have to preach to others, they would come to us and ask us what is different in our life compared to theirs. When we understand that the Love of God is poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5), and we can only love because God loved us first (1 John 3:16, 1 John 4:19) - then it changes our way of thinking (Ephesians 4:23, Romans 12:2). 

How many of us really understand and believe the following?:

• We have been redeemed from sin, darkness and the power of Satan (Colossians 1:13, Ephesians 2:2, Galatians 5:1, Matthew 1:21)
• We are Temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, Romans 8:9, 2 Corinthians 6:16) 
• We are new creations in Christ and have life everlasting (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:4, John 5:24, 1 John 3:14)
• We are beloved Children of the Father (John 1:12, John 16:27, Romans 8:14-16)
• We are coheirs of the Kingdom (Romans 8:17, Matthew 25:34, Revelation 3:21)
• We are a Royal Priesthood who have direct access to God (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6) 
• We know the words of Eternal Life (John 6:68, John 12:50, John 17:8)
• We eat the Bread of Life and life within us (John 6:35, John 6:47-49, John 6:51, John 5:58)
• That the Most Holy Trinity dwells in us and has their home in us (John 14:23, Revelation 3:20, Romans 6:10-11)
• Following Jesus is not a burden, he gives rest to the weary (Matthew 11:28-30) 
• That our thirst is satisfied by streams of Living Water (John 4:14, John 7:38) 
• We are blessed because we believe (John 20:29, Matthew 13:16, 1 Peter 1:8, 1 Corinthians1:6-8)

This Christmas I invite you to reflect on what your faith means to you. If it is not a source of joy, then why? What do you understand about your faith?

Take some time to meditate on the fact that the infant born on Christmas day, the Word made Flesh (John 1:14), is also waiting for us (Matthew 28:20) in all the tabernacles in all the Catholic Churches around the world. He is waiting for us to adore in silence (Matthew 2:2) and let him love us. Through the rhythm of the Church's Liturgy let yourself be drawn into the mystery we celebrate - the Love of God made flesh for you and me (Titus 4:4-7).

May your faith be always source of joy for you, so that your prayer life is a response to the love of God who loved you first (1 John 3:16, 1 John 4:19), and not merely an obligation or duty. Our joy is not based on ignoring suffering or wishful thinking, but it is based on the promises of Christ Himself and the blessings he has told us that will come (Matthew 5:12).

I pray that this Christmas season your joy may be complete (John 15:11) just as Our Lord Jesus himself wants for us all.

God is with us

Emmanuel - God is with us! 

We hear this often throughout the year and specifically during Advent that “God is with us” - but what exactly does it mean? 

It means God is present with us and for us. God is not absent or distant. God is close, always near, faithful and reliable. This is what it means. God is with us and among us as one of us - We are His people, the sheep of his flock (Psalm 98:1-3). 

In salvation history throughout the Bible you will see that there is a progression of God’s revelation of Himself to the Hebrew people. In Genesis the term used for God is Elohim - which is a generic term for god/deity coming from the Semitic root word El. For Abraham He was the family’s personal god called El Shaddai (Genesis 17:1 - translated in English often as God Almighty) who revealed that He is greater than other gods. Then through Abraham’s son Isaac and grandson Jacob, they continued the relationship with El Shaddai as their personal family God. But then God further revealed Himself to Jacob and renamed him as Israel, which became the name of the people descended from the 3 Patriarchs. Then with Moses, he was the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” who gave the Hebrew people a national identity through laws. But he further revealed himself even more personally as YHWH (Exodus 3:14), which means “I am who I am”. 

Later on the people and nation of Israel become a kingdom and under King David he is invoked as Yahweh Sabaoth - The Lord of Hosts/Armies (1 Samuel 17:45). He is the warrior God who defends and protects the kingdom of Israel and his annointed/messiah king David. 

Then in the New Testament we see that the “God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob” (Matthew 22:31–32, Acts 3:13) reveals Himself through the person of Jesus (John 1:14) the Messiah (Christ) to be the One True God of all peoples who will bring them into His family of the Church. God is now revealed as a trinity of persons - Father, Son & Holy Spirit who brings all people to Himself through Jesus and his eternal covenant (Matthew 26:28). These are the words we hear at every Sacrifice of the Mass as they are part of the words of consecration of the Eucharist. 

So in Jesus we know the Father and the Holy Spirit. God is so personal that He is Our Father (Matthew 6:9) who calls us his children (John 1:11-12). Jesus fulfills all the prophecies about God dwelling with His people (Exodus 29:45-46, Leviticus 26:11, Numbers 35:34, 1 Kings 6:13, Ezekiel 37:27, Ezekiel 43:7-9, Zechariah 2:10-11, Isaiah 57:15). 

The new Israel (which means People of God) is now the Church (Galatians 6:16). Just like Israel we have a Lawgiver greater than Moses, and a Messiah King greater than King David (Matthew 22:45) the Shepherd boy. We have the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) who is the greatest of all the prophets (Matthew 12:41, Matthew 17:1-5), who is greater than Moses and is the True Bread of Life greater than the manna in the desert (John 6:30-69). 

God IS with us. God is personally present to each one of us, living in us as His children. Even more than that we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and Jesus Himself said He would always be with us (Matthew 28:20). Jesus promised to be among us in our communal prayers (Matthew 18:20), that He and the Father would make their home in us (John 14:23) and that He is present in the “breaking of the bread” the Eucharist (Luke 24:35, John 6:53).  

This final week of Advent, take time to reflect on how and where God is present in your life. Spend some time in prayer or silence where possible. Read the Bible to understand more the biblical typology and prophecies fulfilled by Jesus and how this continues now in the Sacraments of the Church. 

Jesus wants you to be able to feel and see him, to taste him in the Eucharist so that with the eyes of faith we can can confidently say “God is with us!” (Romans 8:31)

The hope of Advent and meditating on the incarnation

As we enter the last week of Advent, the Church gives us these beautiful antiphons in the Divine Office for vespers before the Magnificat. These antiphons go back to the 8th century. They focus on different aspects of Messianic prophecies regarding Jesus in the Bible. You will also hear in the Gospel Alleluia simplified versions of these sane antiphons for each corresponding day. 

We know that our faith begins and ends with Jesus, the Word made Flesh, God with us (Matthew 1:23) who is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). All of our hope stems from the mystery of the incarnation, God dwelling among us as one of us. This is what gives us our light and strength to share the love of God with others. Then through the resurrection we have a greater hope that not only will Jesus restore peace and justice in the world when he returns as King, but he has already defeated death. So just as he assumed human nature and was born a child, so too, our humanity now united with his will come to share in the resurrection. 

This coming week I invite you to meditate on the mystery of the hope we have in Jesus. He is the hope of the world, hope of the nations, hope of all who suffer - but also my hope, your hope. 

The mystery of God becoming man is something the Church has pondered, wondered, celebrated and contemplated in awe for 2000 years. God became a helpless infant to share in our struggles, to be in solidarity with our suffering, to teach us humility and show us also our dignity. Through the birth of Jesus, he mysteriously and concretely united himself to each one of us in personal, unique and intimate way. As a priest said to me many years ago “even if you were the only person on earth, Jesus would still have been born for you, and died for you. That’s how much he loves you and how important you are to him.” 

Through the mystery of Christmas, God has united himself to us so intimately that all of our struggles, suffering, worries, stresses, happiness, joys and hope are now also shared with him. United to him, even these things are now redemptive in the sense that they can become part of our sanctification and salvation. God did not become human to remove or abolish suffering - he experienced it and transformed it. 

No matter what you are going through this year - family problems, financial stress, loss of your job, problems with your children, a relationship break up, mental health struggles, physical health issues or loneliness. God loves you so much that he chose to become human, born in a little middle eastern town, was rejected, unwanted, lived as a refugee, misunderstood all his life, persecuted and crucified - all so you could be united with him in heaven. This is the glorious mystery that many of the Church Fathers used to repeat - God became what we are, so we can become what he is. He not only restores and raises up our fallen nature, but he elevates and glorifies it. 

God is not distant. Nor is God absent from our lives. God cares about you and is always calling you into relationship, deeper union and intimacy with him. As Catholics we have physical reminders of this in the Sacraments - signs instituted by Jesus himself to leave us reminders of his love, presence and power. The Church and especially the Sacraments are an extension or a prolongation of the Incarnation itself. God dwells with us and among us (Revelation 21:3). This is the meaning of the prophecy of Immanuel “God is with us” in Isaiah 7:14, and is fulfilled in the little town of Bethlehem (House of bread) in an animal trough (Luke 2:7) where the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Word of God became flesh (John 1:14) who would save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21). 

—————————

- December 17 (ref.. Isaiah 11:2-3, Isaiah 28:29, Sirach 24:5, Wisdom 8:1, Isaiah 40:14, Proverbs 1:20; 8; 9, I Corinthians 1:30, Revelation 22:20) 

O Sapiéntia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens á fine usque ad finem fórtiter, 
suavitérque dispónens ómnia: 
veni ad docéndum nos viam prudéntiæ.
O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care:
Come and show your people the way to salvation

- December 18 (ref.. Isaiah 11:4-5, Isaiah 33:22, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:6, Judith 16:16, Exodus 8:3, I Chronicles 17:7, Exodus 3:2, Acts 7:30, Exodus 6:3, Exodus 6:6) 

O Adonai, et dux domus Israël,
qui Moyse in igne flammæ rubi apparuísti,
et ei in Sina legem dedísti: 
veni ad rediméndum nos in bráchio exténto.
O Sacred Lord of ancient Israel,
who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush,
who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain:
Come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.

- December 19 (ref.. Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10, Romans 15:12, Isaiah 52:15, Psalm 39:18, Hebrews 10:37, Revelation 5:5) 

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populôrum,
super quem continébunt reges os suum, 
quem gentes deprecabúntur: 
veni ad liberándum nos, jam noli tardâre.
O Flower of Jesse’s stem,
you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples;
kings stand silent in your presence;
the nations bow down in worship before you.
Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.

- December 20 (ref.. Isaiah 22:22, Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 9:2, Apocalypse 3:7, Genesis 49:10, Luke 1:79) 

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israël,
qui áperis, et nemo claudit: 
claudis, et nemo áperuit: 
veni, et educ vinctum de domo cárceris,
sedéntem in ténebris, et umbra mortis.
O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel,
controlling at your will the gate of heaven:
Come, break down the prison walls of death
for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death;
and lead your captive people into freedom.

- December 21 (ref.. Isaiah 9:2, Luke 1:78-79, Malachi 4:2, Zechariah 6:12, Wisdom 7:26) 

O Óriens, splendor lucis ætérnæ, et sol justitiæ: 
veni, et illúmina sédentes in ténebris, et umbra mortis.
O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.

- December 22 (ref.. Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 2:4, Haggai 2:8, Ephesians 2:14, 19-20, Jeremiah 10:7, Ephesians 2:14, Genesis 2:7, Revelation 15:3, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, I Peter 2:6, Haggai 2:8) 

O Rex Géntium, et desiderâtus eârum,
lapísque angulâris, qui facis útraque unum: 
veni, et salva hóminem, quem de limo formásti.
O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart;
O Keystone of the mighty arch of man:
Come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

- December 23 (ref.. Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 8:8, Isaiah 33:22, Isaiah 37:10, Genesis 49:10, Haggai 2:7)

O Emmánuél, Rex et légifer noster,
expéctátio Géntium, et Salvâtor eârum: 
veni ad salvandum nos, Dómine, Deus noster.
O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,
the Desire of all Nations, and their Saviour:
Come and save us,
O Lord our God.

Modern desert spirituality - shutup & pray

One of the things I love about the Desert Fathers is their bluntness regarding focusing on yourself, your prayer life and not judging others. I find it so refreshing. 

If I had to summarise them for modern ears it would be ”So what?! shutup and pray!” 😂

Is that person annoying? - so what?! Shutup and pray! 

Is this person being a hypocrite? - so what?! Shutup and pray! 

Did someone cut you off in traffic? - so what?! Shutup and pray! 

Did someone say something to offend you? - so what?! Shutup and pray! 

The more you learn to just shutup and pray, it is very liberating. Then you learn to accept people with all their faults and flaws, but love them as Jesus loves them. It gives you patience with yourself and with others. 

I still have a long way to go myself, but I have definitely felt the freedom the Holy Spirit gives (2 Corinthians 3:17) the deeper you enter into your spiritual life. The more you focus on what’s wrong with you instead of everyone eise. The more you understand and accept yourself as you are, while still trying to grow with grace to become a better person then you will slowly be transformed into a true Child of God (John 1:12, Romans 8:14, Matthew 6:9).

The necessity of martyrdom

You may have noticed that I often will emphasise and promote the martyrs of the Church. This is not due to some sadomasochistic tendency, but rather because I have found them so inspirational  in my own life and that as I have discussed in other posts, the early Church herself highly venerated martyrs. 

The Blessed Martyrs of Drina are not very well known outside of Europe or even the Catholic Church in the Balkans. They were among the countless known and unknown martyrs during Workd War 2 that devastated  Europe particularly. Among the the martyrs from this period acknowledged and venerated by the Church we find St Maximilian Kolbe, St Edith Stein, St Titus Brandsma, Bl Franz Jägerstätter, Bl Cardinal Stepinac & Bl Miroslav Bulešić. 

The 5 Blessed Martyrs of Drina are interesting in that 4 of them were martyred for protecting their vow of chastity, while 1 of them was killed separately but more likely due to being older or seen as a burden. All 5 of them were sisters belonging to the Congregation of Daughters of Divine Charity. As religious sisters they were trying to serve the people that God had called them to serve, living among them, teaching them and loving them. 

As with most of the martyrs of the Church you will notice that they were killed because of their commitment to Jesus and living their faith. Our faith is always countercultural, often seen as strange or backwards, but at other times in history seen as a threat to the ruling agenda of the time. Any one of us could be faced with martyrdom at any moment. The political regime in our country could change, someone could take offence at us attending Church or even by wearing a cross on our clothing. The witness of our faith always comes with the possibility of martyrdom. This is why it takes courage to be a Christian, we know that Jesus gives us a peace the world cannot give (John 14:27) and strengthens us by the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses to the world (Acts 1:8). 

In popular culture we Catholics are seen as weak, strange, hypocritical, unhappy, repressed, out of touch etc… and in the eyes of the world this may all be true. But we also have a resilience, a hidden strength that no one else has. Secure in the love of God (Romans 8:31-39) we have an anchor (Hebrews 6:29) that no matter how cursed or reviled we are we will still choose to bless (Luke 6:27-36), when we are persecuted we will learn to rejoice (Matthew 5:10-12) knowing that we are being blessed even in the midst of all the suffering and attacks. This is why the martyrs and the saints have been able to face death without fear (Revelation 12:11) because we follow the Lamb himself who was not afraid to die but was Life itself (John 11:25-26). 

Most of us may never be called to die for Christ or be faced with the choice between death or renouncing our faith. However each of us in our day to day live as a Christian is called to die to our sinful self and live a new life (Ephesians 4:22-32). The daily struggle of learning patience, kindness, choosing not to be angry or resentful, learning to forgive over and over again (Matthew 18: 21-22), all while united to Jesus and trying to allow his light to shine forth in our life that glorifies God (Matthew 5:16).  This is the martyrdom, the witness each and everyone of us is called to. The martyred saints help us in this daily struggle, inspiring us to continually say “Yes” to God and ”No” to the world (1 John 2:15-17) all while still being in the world (John 17:14-16). 

Even during the joy of the Christmas season, the day after we celebrate the Birth of Jesus, we then have a feast day for a martyr - St Stephen (Acts 7). Then 3 days after Christmas the Church gives us the feast of the Holy Innocents (Matthew 2:16-18). Always reminding us sombrely that our joy is not to be found here and that the commitment to Jesus always requires death to self and to the world (John 12:25) in order to obtain that eternal happiness with Jesus. 

All you Holy Martyrs of God - pray for us.

Saint of detachment, mortification of the senses and Nuptial Mysticism

Today is the feast of one of my personal favourite saints, St John of the Cross. He is a Doctor of the Church who has been given the title “Mystical Doctor” because of his teaching on the soul’s union with God. 

St John was a Carmelite priest and became the spiritual director of St Teresa of Avila. He helped her with her reform of the Carmelite Order which tried to refocus the contemplative aspect of the Order as well as stricter emphasis on asceticism. Over time this internal reform resulted in a split in the Order and the Discalced (shoeless) branch of the Carmelite Order became independent. Due to his involvement in the reform he was persecuted a lot by his superiors and imprisoned in a closet for 9 months. After the reform he was also mistreated and persecuted within the newly reformed Discalced Order too due to internal politics. 

We can see that suffering played a huge role in his own personal life and this in turn influenced his spiritual doctrine. He was mistreated while imprisoned, but at the same time the fruit of this imprisonment is where he write his famous poem the “Dark Night”. His commentary on this become the famous book “Ascent of Mount Carmel” where he describes systemically the spiritual life. 

In his writings he has a heavy emphasis on detachment from all things and on suffering. You can understand why this would be when looking at his own life. The reason why he focuses on this is because if we only love God because of the good feelings we get in prayer then we will begin to want the “gifts” (good feelings/experiences) more than the Giver of the Gifts (God). The themes of darkness, dryness in faith, pure desire for God, walking in darkness, naked faith and transformative union in love all permeate his writings. For St John, nothing else matters but God and God alone. 

Because of his emphasis on detachment, mortification or the senses and discouragement of feelings in the spiritual life, he can be a bit intimidating for some people. However, he wrote beautiful poetry in the style of the Song of Songs that focuses on the relationship of the Soul as the Bride, wounded by love, seeking after the Beloved Bridegroom. This genre is known as Nuptial Mysticism. He also has shorter maxims on the spiritual life called the “Sayings of light and love”. It is important to remember the context of his writings was for the Carmelite Nuns of St Teresa’s reform and so a lot of the basics of the spiritual life such as participating in the Sacraments, regular prayer life, growing in virtue etc are already assumed. 

Mysticism for St John of the Cross is not about experiences or phenomena such as levitating or visions or stigmata - but about loving God above all else and being transformed by God. This is why he focuses so heavily on detachment and nothingness - because our ideas, concepts, feelings can become obstacles in our spiritual life, becoming idols that hinder our union with God and enslave us to created things. Through prayer, faith and love we becomes transformed in love to have that union with God which he calls Mystical Marriage. He uses the image on wood on fire that produces heat, although the fire and wood are two separate things they are united. So it is the same with a soul transformed by love in union with God. We must be purged and purified before we can be illuminated and finally enter Union with God. 

 

Through the intercession of St John of the Cross, may we all enter the path of detachment and ascend Mount Carmel, where at the summit of perfection we will reach the union of transformative love with the Beloved.

O God, who gave the Priest Saint John
an outstanding dedication to perfect self-denial
and love of the Cross,
grant that, by imitating him closely at all times,
we may come to contemplate eternally your glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

St Jane Frances de Chantal - mystic of patience and suffering

Today we have the memorial of St Jane Frances de Chantal.  She is a wonderful saint that I wish was better known among people. 

She was a baroness, a married woman and a mother of 4. She was widowed at at the age is 28 and had to live with her father in law who did not treat her well. Her spiritual director was that gentle Doctor of the Church, St Francis de Sales and together they founded the Visitandine Order known as the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. This religious order was founded specifically for women who were older or later vocations and would not be accepted elsewhere or who could not live the stricter monastic life of other cloistered nuns. 

She struggled with dryness in her own prayer and had been through a period of depression after the death of her husband. But in her writings, she is very gentle and patient - just like her spiritual director St Frances de Sales. They both emphasised simplicity, humility, gentleness, accepting trials in a spirit of resignation to God’s Will rather than doing grabs penances or gestures. There’s a beautiful quality of strength and character to the spirituality of both these saints. 

She suffered a lot with depression and mental health after the death of her husband, mistreatment by her father in law, as well as during opposition she had establishing her religious order. Yet through all this she remained kind, gentle and charitable. Even as the religious superior she struggled with interior darkness, spiritual dryness and depression - yet with her nuns she was always patient and loving. 

You can get the sense from her quotes that she was a mystic herself. In spite of all her suffering, depression and struggles she had the fortitude to patiently continue in loving God as a wife, mother and nun. This patience comes out in her writings and prayers, and is something I find incredibly inspiring. 

Her emphasis on choosing to love God no matter what, desiring union with Him, prayer as an emptying of yourself and uniting yourself to God, our own nothingness, our need for faithfulness no matter what, and ultimately love for Jesus as the reason for everything - are all things we can learn from her and be inspired by her. Being a Catholic is hard, loving God and others is also hard, but we have the grace to strengthen us to do it. No matter what happens in life, so long as we remain faithful to whatever God has called us to do, if we remain patient, gentle and loving then God will be with us.  

“Yield yourself fully to God, and you will find out what form your martyrdom will take! Divine love takes its sword to the hidden recesses of our inmost soul and divides us from ourselves."

—St. Jane de Chantal