PROTECT THE YOUNG FROM TRUE EVIL INCARNATE - POPE'S WEEKLY AUDIENCE

At the Weekly Audience yesterday the Sovereign Pontiff made an urgent appeal to us all to protect the young from the various evils which assail them anew every day in the modern world.  To us in the Order of Malta the young, as they set out on their Pilgrimage through life, are the successors of the pilgrims to Jerusalem whom we tended in the first centuries of our existence, beset by the Evil One in many enticing guises.

As His Holiness said : "Every effort must be made to protect children …", "Children are the future of the human family: all of us are expected to promote their growth, health and tranquility." He referred specifically to economic exploitation, saying "I appeal that every effort be made on the part of institutions to protect minors, by filling the economic and social gaps that underlie the distorted dynamic in which they are unfortunately involved."

In present months there have been grotesque attacks on the young in the form of sexual exploitation, using them to make publishing profits through the many 'youth' magazines aimed at corrupting their innocence. This is child abuse, quite simply, and an example of much that Pope Francis has in mind.

CitizenGo have teemed up with Enough is Enough to protest Condé Nast's Vogue magazine's youth imprint 'TeenVogue" which is encouraging children in lockdown to indulge in 'sexting' – for the majority of you who don't know what this means, it is the sending of immodest photographs of themselves by text message to friends. This is both morally corrupting, and deeply compromising to their future careers, as these images remain forever online, frequently resulting in blackmail and suicide.  Please sign the protest petition HERE. as they rightly say, "a parent's worst nightmare."

If you have the stomach for it, you may see TeenVogue HERE. Not a pleasant sight. 

NEXT: The United Nation is using the Coronavirus to dramatically promote Abortion across the developing work, as its humanist solution to the health problems. Dead children cannot catch a virus, and don't cost money – problem solved. Again CitizenGo has a petition. Please sign it HERE. This is extremely urgent. Do this before you leave this page.

The Devil is having ball during Coronavirus, but Knights of Malta have taken him on before – and won.

We must never loose heart, as Pope Francis tells us: "In our darkest moments, when we sin or are disoriented, we always have an appointment with God. We do not need to be afraid, because God will change our hearts and give us the blessing reserved for those who allow Him to change them." (from Yesterday's General Audience).

O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy up on us.

O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy up on us.

O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy up on us.

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Blessed Gerard, pray for us.

THE MOST HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY

We are grateful to our friend and Chaplain, Father John Osman, priest of Saint Birinus, Dorchester-on-Thames, for this reflection upon the Most Holy Trinity for today's feast. It is very poignant this year, as we leave Paschaltide and enter the long summer of green Sundays, to reflect that we have spent the whole of Lent and Easter nearly completely alone - involuntary anchorites. God grant, with our eyes fixed firmly upon the Trinity, that this is not lost time, but may be turned to our spiritual advantage and to building our strength against the Enemy. The illustration shows a knight, such as you might be, gentle Reader, bearing into spiritual battle the shield of the Most Holy Trinity. May it always be yours.

The Sunday following the great Feast of Pentecost and the Giving of the Holy Spirit, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. We contemplate the Mystery of God as He is in Himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and as He has been experienced by the Church throughout History. It is difficult, indeed impossible, for us to contemplate the Mystery of God Who is infinite in His perfections. How could we who are finite and limited comprehend God Who has no limitations?  We can know something about the Creator if we look intelligently at the created order – the work of His hands, but we cannot know Him unless He reveals Himself to us in a language which we can understand. The profound question in every human heart whether articulated or not is “What is God like?” and then perhaps a concomitant question: “How do I know Him?” God answers this question for us by speaking our language, that is by taking our human flesh by becoming man and taking human flesh of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The WORD, that is the Second Person of the Trinity who threw the stars into space and is the agent of creation, that Person takes flesh and becomes Man born of woman.

That is the Mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of Emmanuel – God with us. It is Jesus Christ Who reveals to us His Father and tells Philip “To have seen me is to have seen the Father, for the Father and I are ONE." Furthermore, Our Lord told us that He goes to the Father and that the Father will send us the Gift of the Holy Spirit after Our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven. The Holy Spirit who will be with us until the end of time and Who will lead us into all truth. Our Lord tells us that He will not leave us as orphans but that He will come back to us and be with us. 

Trinity Sunday, in a certain sense, sums up God’s Revelation which was brought about through the Paschal Mystery – that is Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The human mind and human language are inadequate in seeking to explain the relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – yet the Fathers of the Church sought to illustrate the Mystery of the Triune God by living it with deep faith in their own lives.

The Divine Trinity takes up His abode within us on the day of our Baptism, when the priest says: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Every time we sign ourselves with the sign of the Cross we remember Gods’s Name and the Mystery into which we have been immersed through the waters of Baptism. With regard to the Sign of the Cross, it should always be done with care and devotion and with a remembrance of our Baptism. The Theologian Romano Guardini said: “We make the Sign of the Cross before praying, so that we may bout ourselves spiritually in order, focus thoughts, heart and will on GOD; after praying that what God has given us may remain with us.

PRAYER embraces the whole of our being, body and soul, and everything is consecrated in the Name of the TRIUNE GOD.”

Let us make our own prayer that of St Hilary of Poitiers:

“Keep uncontaminated, the Faith that is in me until my last breath. Protect my conscience that I may be faithful to what I professed in the waters of regeneration, when I was baptized in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity”  (St Hilary: de Trinitate XII)

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is at the heart of our Catholic Faith and the in the experience of the Church throughout the ages. It is not a mathematical problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.

(Illumination by the Dominican Guillaume Perrault, 'Peraldus', 1190-1271, of a Christian preparing to do battle against the Seven Deadly Sins, from his volume 'Summa de virtutibus et vitas'.)

SIR GEORGE BOWYER ANNIVERSARY - RIP

Today is the anniversary of the death of Sir George Bowyer, Bt, the pious and romantic founder member of the British Association, one-time possible Grand Prior of England, patron of 'our' Sisters of Mercy, and benefactor and builder of our Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem in St John's Wood, in the pavement of which, before the high altar, his heart is buried.

Of your charity, pray for his soul. If you happen to be in St John's Wood, do make a visit to the church, where for various reasons he has been rather neglected of late. Chaplains are invited to remember him at the altar at Holy Mass. Gone are the days of an annual chantry Mass in the beautiful church he so generous gave us.

The engraving above is from the Illustrated London News of June 8 1860, in the possession of the Editor.

The window below of St Edmund of Abingdon shows Bowyer presenting his new church in that town to its holy patron. (Click  to enlarge.)

REFLECTION ON OUR REDEMPTION 15 - PENTECOST

This is the 15th and last paper in our series Reflections on our Redemption which have been running since Passion Week. They may all be revisited using the search box top-left.

We are grateful, yet again, to Fr Joseph Hamilton for this final meditation upon the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.

Please pray for our beloved Order at this time, that it may be guided by the Holy Spirit into the path of Truth and Humility, not easy virtues for those living in the modern world which hates both; pray for our Chaplains, without whom we could not hope to be a Catholic order, that they may have the courage to give us the teaching we need; pray this weekend for the 20,000 or so Chartres Pilgrims who cannot walk due to the virus, and for our own small band of British Order Pilgrims who walked valiantly in Our Lady's path in London yesterday, praying for your intentions. Above all pray of the Church, that it in this time of crisis She may be given the strength to restore the awesome sway of Christ in our fallen world. We must each play our little part; the choice is yours.

The painting in the video shows the 'Descent of the Holy Ghost' by Sir Anthony van Dyck, 1618-20, in the collection at Sanssouci, Potsdam.

VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS, REPLE TUORUM CORDA FIDELIUM

SAINT UBALDESCA, VIRGIN

Gentle Reader, please accept our apologies for posting on this great saint a day late. Yesterday as every year, Saint Ubaldesca coincided with Saint Augustine, Apostle to the English. So, with apologies to the great Carmelite saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, her near neighbour, and today's feast of the altar, we now offer her to your undivided devotion. The painting illustrated is in the possession of the Museum of Saint John in Clerkenwell. It is of course due to the late date of the painting that our Saint is shown wearing a black habit, not red, see below.

Saint Ubaldesca Taccini represents the perfection of female service in the Order of Saint John.

Born at Castello di Calcinaia, in the county of Pisa in 1136, to farming stock, her parents pious people who practiced the virtues of obedience and silence, qualities they encouraged in our Saint from infancy. She learnt to pray constantly and practiced bodily mortifications, a spirituality which seems so foreign to our modern ears, but which throughout Europe produced the great age of Christendom, in the ashes alone of which we live now.

This life of virtue instilled into Ubaldesca a profound sense of charity and kindness, and she gave regularly to the Poor – having so little herself she frequently gave only time and understanding, often the most cherished gifts even by those who have no material goods. We see in all this the true and full vocation of womanhood.

The essential practice of examination of conscience led her to seek, in prayer for guidance, the true form her vocation should take.

One day while baking the bread, as if miraculously, she had a vision of an angel, who told her to seek admission to our Sisters of Saint John of Jerusalem of Carraia in Pisa. Knowing how poor her family was, and unable to provide the usual dowry, she doubted, but was assured by the angel that the Reverend Mothers were so rich they had no need of any dowry but her virtues, which, to dispel her further doubt, the Holy Spirit would provide where she lacked.“There is no woman in Pisa who will be more full of virtues than you. And because of your merits, the city will be delivered from great perils,” the angel told her. Pious as they were, her parents, through love of God and faith in their only daughter, took her the next day to Pisa.

THE HOLY EUCHARIST AND CORONAVIRUS

We give below the text of a paper by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, as part of our continuing Tuitio Fidei, upon the current Coronavirus crisis and the Most Holy Eucharist. It challenges us, and the Church, at pastoral, liturgical and theological levels.

It is particularly good for us here in England that His Excellency cites, at length, the spiritual care for the 19th Century urban poor by the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, which tradition has continued to enhance the numbers of English Catholic clergy, and indeed members of our own Order, over the past century and a half.

It is also good in the light of the continuing friendship and mutual hospitality between our beloved Order and the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the true successors of the Oxford Movement, working together as we do in the care of the Our Lords the Poor. There is something wonderfully Catholic and international (tautology?), firmly in the tradition of the Venerable Bede whose feast we celebrate today, and of Newman, about a German from the Ukraine, now bishop in Kazakhstan, citing 19th century Anglicanism in the context of eucharistic theology! Ad maiorem Dei gloriam!

We are thus deeply grateful to His Excellency for this challenging contribution, which fits well into our series "Reflections on our Redemption" as Paschaltide draws to a close, with the triumphal descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church – "Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire."

The Eucharist, the greatest treasure of the Church, in time of tribulations 

H.E. Bishop Athanasius Schneider 

WE ARE WITNESSING a unique situation: It is for the first time in the history of the Church that the public celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice has been prohibited almost on a worldwide scale. Under the pretext of the Covid-19 epidemic, the inalienable right of Christians to the public celebration of the Holy Mass has been infringed, disproportionately and unjustifiably. In many countries, and especially in predominantly Catholic countries, this prohibition was enforced in such a systematic and brutal way, that it seemed as though the ruthless historical persecutions of the Church were brought back. An atmosphere of the catacombs was created with priests celebrating Holy Mass in secrecy with a group of the faithful.

The unbelievable fact was that in the midst of this worldwide ban of the public Holy Mass, many bishops even before the government banned public worship, issued decrees by which they not only forbade the public celebration of Holy Mass, but of any other sacrament as well. By such anti-pastoral measures those bishops deprived the sheep from the spiritual food and strength which only the sacraments can provide. Instead of good shepherds those bishops converted into rigid public officials. Those bishops revealed themselves to be imbued with a naturalistic view, to care only for the temporal and bodily life, forgetting their primary and irreplaceable task to care for the eternal and spiritual life. They forgot the warning of Our Lord: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Mt. 16:26). Bishops who not only did not care but directly prohibited their faithful access to the sacraments, especially to the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the sacrament of Penance, behaved themselves as fake shepherds, who seek their own advantage...

FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP NERI

Please pray today for our late confrère and chaplain of the Priory, Mgr Antony Conlon, whose 41st anniversary of priestly ordination falls today.

Tu es sacerdos in æternum.

The photograph was taken two years ago on pilgrimage with friends at Shepherd's Field at Beit Sahur outside Bethlehem.

Tu es pastor bonus.

Dr Conlon, lately parish priest of Goring-on-Thames, died on Low Sunday this year.

Requiescat in pace. 

Please pray also for our many Oratorian friends and chaplains, as they celebrate the festival of their Founder and Patron.

Sancte Philippe Neri, ora pro nobis.


(Photo courtesy of James Barton.)

REFLECTIONS ON OUR REDEMPTION 14 - AWAITING THE HOLY GHOST

We are grateful, yet again, to Father Joseph Hamilton for taking the time from his PhD to provide us with a meditation on the events at the close of Eastertide, as, with the Twelve Apostles in the Upper Room, we await the coming of the Holy Ghost.

VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS, REPLE TUORUM CORDA FIDELIUM

PLEASE HELP TO OPEN OUR CHURCHES!

A group of inspired young Catholics, many of them within our Order and its wider family, is organising a wonderful volunteering initiative to assist our Bishops is opening churches safely and quickly.  We have posted about this previously HERE.  They already have 500 volunteers!

They have issued a press release, below. Please support them as much as you can, and pass the word to you families.

Please also write to your bishops to give the support from the laity which they badly need to influence the civil authorities. We have recently posted a letter with many good arguments you may use HERE. Write a short letter, they know the situation, they simply want encouragement.

Remember, the return of the Sacraments is for our benefit as laity.  The Mass is still being offered, the immeasurable graces promised by Christ are still being gained. God has not abandoned us, nor has His Holy Church. It is the comfort of their presence we are lacking, most especially in the confessional, which, as the French Conseil d'Etat states, is our "fundament right" in a free society. Public worship is restored in that great once-Catholic country this weekend, as in the USA and Italy. God helps those who help themselves.

In Britain, which has known centuries of religious persecution, perhaps we still have to try a little harder. Let us ask the Martyrs to assist us!

Press release for immediate release 22/05/20

Young Catholics launch website to help reopen churches, encourage lay volunteers. 

A group of young London based Catholics have today announced the launch of a new initiative aimed at enabling the swift reopening of Catholic Churches across the UK. The website, Open Church Doors, encourages lay Catholics to indicate their willingness to volunteer at their local parish in order to safely enable private prayer and liturgy in Catholic churches once again. Following an initial soft launch, slightly under 500 volunteers have signed up so far.   

The website https://opendoors.church/ forwards the name and email address of each volunteer to their local parish, in order for each parish priest to know that they have sufficient help to, among other things, disinfect surfaces and manage social distancing inside.  

In addition, the website is designed to show national support for the Bishop’s efforts in negotiations with the government in order to reopen churches as soon as possible. The volunteer counter on the website keeps track of the national total in a way individual emails to parishes otherwise would not be able to demonstrate. 

Co-founder and Spokesman Anton’ de Piro said:

‘This initiative is designed first and foremost to be of support and help to bishops and priests in their efforts to get churches open again. Everybody involved in the project is rooting for all of them and praying for them and we hope that the numbers that sign up can be a concrete source of encouragement for all.’ 

Contact:  openchurchdoors@gmail.com

07748 272 908

BLESSED VILMOS APOR, MARTYR OF OUR ORDER

Today is the feast of one of the 20th Century's martyrs of our Order.

Vilmos (William) Apor, was born as a baron into a noble family in 1892, the son of Baron Gábor Apor and Countess Fidelia Pálffy ab Erdöd. He was an Hungarian bishop who earned a special reputation for his service to the poor, especially during the months of hardship that came at the end of the Second World War. He was a Chaplain and Prelate of our Order.

As a child he already felt his vocation to the sacred priesthood, and had asked his mother for a chalice and paten as a Christmas present when a small boy. He excelled in the study of Latin at school. Against his mother’s initial wishes, he was was eventually ordained to the priesthood in 1915, having studied under the Jesuits at Innsbruck, and celebrated his first Mass on 25 August with his mother and sisters in attendance.

He was famous for his commitment to the protection of abused women, the cause which would ultimately lead to his martyrdom. In this he shares with our Patron Saint John the Baptist the defence of the dignity of women and of marriage. Named Bishop of Györ by Pope Pius XII in 1941, he chose as his motto: “Crux firmat mitem, mitigate fortem” - The Cross strengthens the weak and makes the strong gentle. He was insistent in protesting to the Nazis against the persecution of the Hungarian Jews during the occupation, and during the many air raids on the city he opened his home to those whose houses had been destroyed. When Russian troops entered the city in 1945, many women, including Jews and religious, took refuge in the episcopal palace, he himself withdrawing to a small room.

On Good Friday 1945 three drunken Russian soldiers broke into the residence and demanded that the women be taken to their barracks, the women petrified of being raped. Monsignor Apor refused and placed himself in front of the women, to whom he was knows simply as ‘Uncle Vilmos’. One of the Russians shot and wounded him in the abdomen; out of fear at their cowardice they then fled, leaving the women unmolested. Bishop Apor survived in great agony for three days, operations to save him being unsuccessful, and died on 2nd April, Easter Monday, having made his confession and received the last rites. His death was witnessed by István Sándor, a young Salesian priest, himself also to be a martyr and blessed, who was at the time forced to work as a labourer by the Russians. Upon learning of his death, which came as a profound shock and loss to his diocese, the people of the city of Györ hailed him immediately as a great saint.

On 9th April 1947, the great Cardinal Mindszenty wrote to Father Csavossy, the postulator for the cause: “I can assure you that now is the appropriate time to introduce the canonization procedures. I wish it and officially approve of it, and want the necessary steps to be taken to do the same for all priests who lost their lives when protecting women.” 

The theologian and Cardinal-elect Hans Urs von Balthasar was his nephew.

Blessed Vilmos’s tomb in Györ Cathedral, designed by the Hungarian artist Boldogfai Farkas Sándor, is an impressive piece of modern sculpture in red granite.

Blessed Vilmos Apor was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 9th November 1997, who confirmed that he was killed ‘in odium fidei’ (hatred of the Faith.)

THE OPENING OF OUR CHURCHES?

Again we are grateful to RORATE CAELI (here) for this very moving letter from a medical doctor to his bishop, which will resonate with many of us, which expresses clearly what so many of us are thinking at this time of denial of our birthright on spurious grounds. It is part of our duty as members of the Order of Malta to encourage access to the Sacraments in our own home dioceses. Please write to your Bishop. And then, of course, there is the President of the United States, who has mandated the opening of churches HERE. (We are embedding the video at the end of this post, it is of great importance, and no doubt he will be mocked and criticised for it.) Let us pray that our own prevaricating leaders, civil and religious, follow his intrepid example.

The Ascension of Our Lord
May 21st, 2020

Your Excellency,

Last Monday, I received a copy of the diocese’s letter regarding the opening of our churches as we enter the “yellow phase.” After being denied access to the Sacraments for two months, I cannot begin to tell you how absolutely heartbreaking the letter was to read.

What has happened these last two months, to our Church and Sacramental life, is a tragedy, and it is unacceptable. It is a grave mistake, however well-intentioned, to consider the closure of the Church and denial of access to the Sacraments to be a form of “charity.” No one is being forced to attend Mass, forced into a confessional, or forced to adore Our Lord—the very same Lord, in the Blessed Sacrament, as He before whom we will one day stand in judgment. If a person is frightened or vulnerable to illness, they have always had the option to stay home. The implication of your letter, that those of us who wish to attend The Holy Sacrifice during these times are somehow uncharitable, selfish, and inconsiderate of the safety of others, is an unjust characterization.

I am a physician and work almost exclusively with acute illness and injury. I understand better than most people the risks—whether real, imagined, or feared—of the coronavirus, as well as every other infectious disease that I encounter. More importantly, I am the father of five very young children. Knowing full well that I come in contact with COVID, influenza, RSV, C. diff, Syphilis, Zoster, and an untold number of other pestilent entities, should I quarantine myself out of “charity” to my family, for their own safety, to protect them from the dangers of this life? Should I wring my hands, bemoan my circumstances, and give them my love from six feet away through a plexiglass shield? What of my patients? I can’t order them to stay home out of concern that they could be exposed to illness. I can’t repair a child’s head wound through a Zoom meeting or replace a dislocated shoulder via Facebook Livestream.

As a father and husband, I cannot in times of crisis simply lock my doors and sequester myself. I can’t wave from the window and wish my children well while they stand in the elements outside, deprived of food, clothing, and shelter. I cannot deny them my presence while I allow the crisis to pass. I’m obligated to care for them. A bishop is the spiritual father of his diocese, tasked with the welfare of the souls of his flock. Regardless of intentions, every single bishop in our country has deprived his spiritual children from their primary source of nourishment!

It is frankly scandalous that I may go to Home Depot and the grocery store but may not enter a Catholic church. I may receive a bag of fast food at a drive-through window from the hands of a stranger but not Our Lord from the consecrated hands of a priest. I may wash my clothing at a public laundromat but not wash my soul in the confessional.

How long will this go on, and how far will things be allowed to go? What will you do this fall when the virus surges again? What will you do during future flu seasons? Will laymen stand alone when immorality is legislated; when the forces of the world rage against the faithful, against Christ and His Church; when a greater crisis than this one strikes (which is very easy to imagine)? What would the great English Martyrs say? What of the Cristero soldiers? St. Damien of Molokai? What of Pope John Paul II, who famously said “Open wide the doors for Christ!”?

From the beginning, religious institutions and places of worship have been exempt from the government-implemented mitigation measures. Believe me, I checked, many times. Our interdict comes entirely from ecclesiastical authorities, and unless I am mistaken, only you, dear bishop, may lift our restrictions. Please, let us return to Mass. Don’t set limits on church capacity or mandate masks.

Please, I beg you, open wide the doors of our churches, and may they never be closed again.

Sincerely,

(A Catholic Medical Doctor)

UPDATE: The French Republic, notoriously anti-clerical, has opened all churches from this weekend, with sensible precautions similar to other public places. The Conseil d'Etat had ruled that the prohibition of public religious practice was illegal, and a violation of 'fundamental rights'.

Britain, it seems, is to be left alone. Perhaps, after three centuries of the worst religious persecution of any Western country, that should not surprise us. What, as the good doctor says above, would the Martyrs say?

Here is the video of the President of the United States of America:

"WE NEED MORE PRAYER, NOT LESS."

OUR LADY OF ST ALBANS

For those of you who have been following the daily Marian virtual pilgrimage this month (see HERE), and because it is hot and a holiday atmosphere prevails, one could not resists posting this video. But you will have to visit Our Lady today to find out why.

DOS TUA VIRGO HÆC EST, QUARE LEGES O MARIA

REFLECTIONS ON OUR REDEMPTION 13 - THE ASCENSION

We are grateful to our Chaplain, Fr Michael Lang of the London Oratory, for this further paper in our series of meditations to mark the Paschal Season this year. Please remember our Chaplains in your daily prayers.

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD, along with his sitting at the right hand of the Father, is part of the Creed we profess every Sunday, and yet this truth of the faith does not seem to be fully appreciated even by practising Catholics. When we hear of the Paschal Mystery, which is at the heart of divine Revelation, we tend to think of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, and we may not even notice that that the Ascension is missing from this series. And yet, Christ’s redeeming work includes his blessed Passion, his Resurrection from the dead and his glorious Ascension into heaven, as we recall in the Roman Canon of the Mass, after the Consecration.

When our Lord was taking leave of the Apostles, he said to them: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Saint Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, records that then, “as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9).

Examples of ascent (and descent) abound in the Bible. When the waters of the flood were pouring down, Noah’s ark of salvation rose and it was lifted up “high above the earth” (Gen 7:17). Moses went up the mountain where God dwells to receive his word (Ex 24:18). In Holy Scripture, mountains are often described as places where we can meet God. Hence the psalmist asks, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” The answer: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Ps 24:3-4).

On the hilltop of the Mount of Olives, to the East of the city of Jerusalem, Christ was lifted up. This physical ascent, real as it was, is the sign of a still greater mystery. Christ ascended into heavenly glory, to sits at God’s right hand (Ps 110:1,5). This expression “seated at the right hand of” the Father is figurative and not to be taken literally. God is Spirit, and has no body. The expression, which we also use in the Creed, indicates the divine glory and majesty into which the Eternal Son returned, and in which he shares forever.

But the Ascension brings something new: Christ enters into heavenly glory with his human nature. The Incarnation wasn’t just a temporary remedy; it doesn’t end with the Ascension, but Christ remains for ever divine and human. Thus humanity is brought to its true and happy end: communion with God, sharing in the divine life of the Blessed Trinity. Through his Ascension, Christ throws the gates of eternal life wide open, so that we can follow him into heaven. He takes his own human nature into heaven to prepare a place for us.

We now understand why the Saint Luke in his Gospel says that after the Ascension the disciples returned to Jerusalem “with great joy” (24:52). Their joy comes from the fact that what had happened was not a separation or a departure: Christ’s Ascension does not mean his leave of absence from the world (until his Second Coming at the end of time), but rather the new and definitive form of his divine presence in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so the Ascension leads to Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit on the Apostles. It was to be up to them, the disciples emboldened by the power from above, to make this presence of Christ visible in this world by their witness, preaching and missionary zeal.

According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Ascension is the cause of an increase in all three supernatural virtues. It increases our faith, which is the “conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1), because those who believe in Christ, but do not see him are truly blessed (see Jn 20:29). It increases our hope because our journey towards God advances by virtue of our Head’s entering into his Father’s realm. And it increases our charity because Christ’s ascension is the precondition for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Thus the love of God is “poured into our hearts” (Rom 5:5) and directs our hearts and minds towards “the things that are above” (Col 3:1).

It is by being witnesses of Christ in our daily lives, through faith, hope and charity, that we, the members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church, become ready to follow our Head into his glorious Kingdom.

DOMINUS IN CÆLO, ALLELUIA! PARAVIT SEDEM SUAM, ALLELUIA!

(The picture shows the panel of the Ascension by the German painter, Han Süss von Kulmbach, 1513, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.)

ASCENDIT DEUS IN IUBILATIONE, ALLELUIA!

The Grand Priory of England wishes all our readers all joys of the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord.

Members of the Order are not insensitive, perhaps, to the pleasure of worldly honours, so the thousand-year old words of St Eadmer of Canterbury, 1060-1124, secretary, friend and biographer of St Anselm, will surely resonate fruitfully.

"If Mary tasted great joy when her Son lived bodily beside her, and as much joy when this same Son, after destroying death, rose up from Hell; would she have known less joy when her Son, before her eyes, entered the heavens with this earthly flesh that, as she knew well, he had received from her?

"Who has ever suggested such a thing, or who has ever believed that her bliss at this moment could be compared even to all the joys that came before? 

"Good mothers of this world experience great joy when their sons are granted earthly honours; would not this mother - definitely a good mother! - have rejoiced, with ineffable joy, when she saw her only Son penetrating the Heavens with power and domination and, rising up, reaching the throne of God the Father Almighty?”

ET DOMINUS IN VOCE TUBÆ, ALLELUIA!

(The picture shows the Ascension by Gustave Doré, 1979, housed at the Petit Palais in Paris)

FEAST OF BLESSED GERARD MECATTI

Today is the Feast of Blessed Gerard Mecatti, religious of our Order.

Gerard was a friar, as well as a knight of Saint John, and is regarded as one of the greatest of our saints. Born in Villamagna, near Florence, to noble parents who were custodians of the castelloknown as Le Casalline, property of the Nobile Federico Folchi. His parents succumbed to the plague when Gerard was a child, and Don Folchi, a kindly man, attracted by the boy’s obvious piety and honesty, made him steward of his household.

Folchi was a knight of Saint John, and the boy showed evident interest in the life of a ‘servant d’armes’ within our Order.  He joined the Order in readiness to accompany his lord to Syria, in the fight against the wicked pagans. Gerard’s humility and compassion prompted him to give all his property for the benefit of the poor, thus he left his native Italy as a true knight of Saint John, free of all possessions. Don Folchi was soon captured following a battle in Syria, Gerard was with him, and nursed his wounded Master until his death later in Palestine.  Ransomed, Gerard returned briefly to Tuscany before setting off again to the Holy Land, and on the way his ship was attacked by pirates. For his bravery in what proved a fierce battle he was decorated by the Master of the Hospital with the Cross of a Serving Knight, the highest honour of the Order at that time.

Gerard remained in the Holy Land for seven years, leading the ordinary life of a knight of Saint John, assisting pilgrims, and serving the sick and the poor. He became well known for his saintliness and humility, and, eventually, to eschew the life of celebrity which was coming to him, chose to return home to Villamagna. The sea journey home proved eventful, a great storm blew up, near shipwreck was averted only by long and fervent prayers, but, against the worst fears of Gerard and his companions, eventually they made it into the harbour of Livorno, which in English we call Leghorn, a tribute to its importance in the Crusader life of the Mediterranean Sea.

Returned home, not for our Blessed, though, the honourable and decent country life of a retired knight. On the road to Florence he met Saint Francis of Assisi, and, renewed with zeal and love of the poor, received from the Saint’s stigmatized hands the homespun habit of the Third Order, which he wore thereafter over his mantle with the white Cross of Religion of our own Order, beneath them both a hair shirt. In the poorest hovel near his old home, Gerard lived the simple life of a hermit, following the rules and vows of both the Franciscans and our own Order, then still in its strict observance, and dedicated himself to a life of fasting, penance and silent contemplation. Every night, so as not to be seen by the locals, he made a pilgrimage of three miles upon his knees, and his reputation for sanctity so greatly affected the people round about, that a procession following his path (on foot) was continued until the 17^thcentury by a fraternity set up in his honour.

Before his death, as an old man, occurred a miracle. The nun who attended him asked if he needed anything. Smiling he replied, “Yes, I should like to eat some cherries.” She thought he must be delirious, as it was Spring, but going out saw a cherry tree laden with ripe fruit "as fine and fresh as in June." For this reason paintings of Blessed Gerard often depict him holding the branch of a cherry tree. 

He died about 1245, some time in May. At that period, canonisation by popular acclamation and local cultus was still usual, and in Italian santo and beato were effectively interchangeable terms. His relics are still at Villamagna, his body was still incorrupt in the 17^thcentury, and shown to the people annually after Pentecost. On 18^thMarch 1833 Pope Gregory XVI proclaimed him a beatus of the universal Church.

Blessed Gerard Mecatti, pray for us.

UPDATE - PETITION ON OPENING CHURCHES

We have updated the previous post with a PETITION being promoted in UK Dioceses to Robert Jenrick MP, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, calling for the rapid opening of churches, HERE. Please take a moment to go and sign it, and pass it on widely to your friends and family.

REOPENING OF CHURCHES – RETURN TO THE SACRAMENTS

For all Knights and Dames of the Order, and our Companions and friends, the weeks of inactivity can be frustrating. We retain, however, our duty of Tuitio Fidei, namely the ability to present the teaching of Holy Mother Church and to argue Her doctrines. It is for this reason that, through various organs, the Order provides regular teaching and catechesis to sustain us. We are grateful to our chaplains for this.

At the present time it may feel as if our life of service to the Poor and Sick is on hold, our membership of the Order also in lockdown. But there are things we can be doing. The world is deeply confused about the spiritual dimension of the present crisis, and this is where, as informed and mobilised Catholics, we can get to work.

There are two initiatives currently under way which you are encouraged to engage with, and some excellent explanations of the current situation available online, which allows us to stand back from the hysteria and conspiracy theories which abound, and which we should treat with great care.  One of the most excellent recent papers is given below, courtesy of the blog Rorate Caeli, to which all credit; it is given by priest theologian.

Firstly, then, there is petition, organised by LifeSiteNews, which you are encouraged to sign asking these in public authority to reopen churches for private prayer without further delay HERE. We can all do this, it takes couple of minutes.

UPDATE: Please also sign this separate CitizenGo petition to Robert Jenrick MP, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, HERE, which is being promoted in several UK Dioceses.

Secondly, an initiative is under way for volunteers to help enable this HERE, organised by "Open Doors Church", promoted by our confrère Anton' de Piro. Those with time are strongly encouraged to help with this wonderful project, of immediate and direct benefit to the Poor. 

Both these actions are hospitaller work, as they bring direct practical spiritual benefit to many people in need. Please engage with them.

Thirdly, we print the text of an anonymous letter by an experienced teacher of moral theology, originally written to his Bishop. It is long, but we have time to read at home, and you would do well to study it all, as this will help us to argue the case for restoration of religious normality, both within the Church and in the wider world. (Original link here)

Letter Reflecting on the Cancellation of Masses and Closure of Churches

+Pax+

8 May 2020

Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces and Queen of All Saints

Your Excellency,

For nearly two months now the Catholic faithful have been deprived of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of Holy Communion, and for many, even of Confession, many priests refusing this ministry. This time has been one of great suffering for all. The unexpectedness of the situation found us all wondering what to do, and those in positions of leadership had to make some very tough and very quick decisions.

Even if, we hope, things may once again be relatively normal in the near future, I am mindful that the situation we found ourselves in is likely to repeat itself. It is for this reason that I would like to share with you a few reflections about the way things have been handled during the COVID-19 crisis.

This letter is not intended to incriminate anyone, nor even to lodge a complaint. It takes its source in my reflections as a theologian, and seeks only to cast upon events the light of truth and justice with the hope that, having learned from the experience, we may in the future not leave the Catholic faithful in a situation where many of them felt effectively abandoned...

LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN

Here is a picture of how, Deo volente, life will be when we are allowed to return to church.  Notice that everyone, particularly the ladies, has troubled to prepare themselves in their best clothes, but that the men have come to give thanks to Our Blessed Lady before going to have their hair cut! Much in this painting shows our correct pious disposition and priorities, in reverence and joy, which we ourselves are firmly encouraged to adopt. Perhaps the coronavirus will have persuaded us to put behind us the invincible sophistication which despises the piety God so loves.

In the meantime, pray to Our Lady in this month of May that the bishops of of our Isles will move quickly to restore full and safe access to the Sacraments, in a spirit of love and kindness, free from some of the childish and mean-spirited restrictions we have seen coming out of some American dioceses recently.

The painting is by Jules Breton, of 1891, entitled the Pardon of Kergoat, a village of Quéméneven in  Cornouaille, Brittany. The cousins of our Cornishmen. It hangs in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper. (click it to enlarge, it will get full-screen.)

It shows the annual canonical pardon; these processions were a common feature of parts of Northern France, and some amazingly still continue to this day. The pardons are the remission of the punishment due to absolved sins, commuting Purgatory, and are supernaturally similar to indulgences, but public community acts of short pilgrimage with this specific purpose. They were often connected to holy wells or fountains (as this one). They represent, in effect, the ultimate charity and kindness of the traditions of the Church, that no soul should suffer for a moment longer than necessary. 

In effect our Holy Father Pope Francis has enacted much the same with the widespread indulgences he proclaimed at the beginning of the Coronavirus. They are still in place – take advantage of them, see our post HERE. Perhaps our Bishops should consider restoring public Pardons.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us

ASK YOUR MP TO VOTE AGAINST EXTREME ABORTION REGULATIONS FOR NI

We post below information published by RIGHT TO LIFE, following requests from several priest friends, This is a very important issue, please act now.

"Last year MPs voted to impose an extreme abortion regime on Northern Ireland. The Government then developed new regulations to introduce this abortion regime. The regulations came into effect on March 31st, but have not been approved by MPs or peers yet. 

"On Tuesday 12 May, MPs will vote on whether to approve them or not. If they are voted down, this will send a very strong signal to the Government that these extreme regulations should not be imposed on Northern Ireland. 

"They will then be forced to redraft the regulations to be less extreme or bring forward legislation to allow the new Parliament to vote revoke these regulations, giving control back to the Northern Ireland Assembly. 

"Further information on the new extreme abortion regulations introduced by these regulations is available HERE."

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW

UPDATE ON 'A MAY PILGRIMAGE TO MARY'

This follows our post HERE.

With apologises for the delay in posting the pilgrimage destinations for today and the rest of the month, as previously promised, we give below the list of Marian shrines until 31st May.  For your convenience we post again at the end the common pilgrim prayer for each day.

4 May : Our Lady of Westminster (at the North door of the Abbey and in its Pew Chapel, the ancient shrines, and in Westminster Cathedral.)
5 : Our Lady of Grace at the Pillar in S Paul's Cathedral. (in the old church!)
6 : Our Lady at the Oak in Islington.
7 : Our Lady of Willesden.
8 : Our Lady of Muswell.
9 : Our Lady of Oxford.
10 : Our Lady of Grace at Cambridge.
11 : Our Lady of Coventry.
12 : Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich.
13 : Our Lady of Thetford.
14 : Our Lady of Woolpit.
15 : Our Lady of Abingdon.
16 : Our Lady of Pity in the Galilee at Durham.
17 : Our Lady on the Bridge at Wakefield.
18 : Our Lady of the White Friars in Doncaster.
19 : Our Lady at the Pillar, St Edmundsbury.
20 : Our Lady of Evesham.
21 : Our Lady of the Four Candles at S Alban's.
22 : Our Lady of Pity in the Rock at Dover.
23 : Our Lady in the Park, near Liskeard in Cornwall.
24 : Our Lady in the Wood, near Epworth in Lincolnshire.
25 : Our Lady of Winchester.
26 : Our Lady of Windsor.
27 : Our Lady of Peace, at Winfarthing in Norfolk.
28 : Our Lady of Ardenburgh, in the Church of S Nicholas in Yarmouth.
29 : Our Lady at the Oak, in S Martin's, Norwich.
30 : Our Lady on the Red Mount, King's Lynn.
31 : Our Lady of Walsingham.

Two things jump out at one, firstly that, while all the shrines are destroyed, some of the locations still exist as places of worship in the hands of the Protestants. Others are restored as Catholic shrines, and may truly be visited.  This list is of course not exhaustive, dependent as it is upon the 31 days of the month, and as Fr Hunwicke has found out, people will readily suggest others. Those who wish to learn more, are directed to Pietatis Mariana Britannica by Edmund Waterton FSA, (a seminal work, originally published 1879, available in reprint, on Amazon and elsewhere) To this end, for provision of information or anecdote, we shall leave the comments open. Worthy of note too is the mediaeval fondness for Marian shrines on pillars, something the modern Englishman quite wrongly thinks of as southern European.

O most Blessed Virgin Mother of God, conceived without original sin, in mind and spirit I visit thy churches, altars, and shrines, venerated by our forefathers in this land once acknowledged as thy Dowry, but more especially today I wish to place myself before thy Shrine at ... ... ... , humbly seeking to be numbered amongst the pilgrims who have sought thee in this place and to receive through thy prayers those graces which have ever flowed from thy Sanctuaries. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

O Blessed Mother Mary, whose Dowry we inhabit, pray for us!
O Blessed Mother Mary, whose Dowry we inhabit, 
come and reign in our hearts!
O Blessed Mother Mary, this is thy Dowry,
come and reign in our land!