FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY CROWN OF THORNS

In aliquibus locis, the Friday after Ash Wednesday was celebrated as the feast of the Most Holy Crown of Thorns.

COLLECT

Grant, we beseech you, O God, that as we venerate the Crown of Thorns on earth as a memorial of the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so we may merit in heaven to be crowned with its glory and honour. Who live and reign in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever. Amen.

Pray this day especially for the people of Paris, where the relic is kept, now displaced from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. 

LENTEN READING

The new book on the Priesthood by Benedict XVI and Cardinal Sarah, From the Depths of Our Hearts, has been published by Ignatius Press, HERE, or HERE, and arrived today.  It give a wonderful and reflective understanding of the Catholic priesthood, and serves as a helpful guide to a correct understanding of the Holy Father's Apostolic Exhortation "Querida Amazonia" HERE, written following the Amazon Synod last October in Rome, which caused much heated debate, as we have reported previously on these pages. Cardinal Sarah is Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship since 2014.

This short work, from two of our age's most tangible theological writers, would form a most excellent subject for Lenten reading, offering a clear and incisive glimpse of the centrality of a doctrine of our Faith - the nature of the priest at the altar.

As the authors write, "As bishops we are responsible for the care of all the Churches. In our great desire for peace and unity, we therefore offer to all our brother bishops, priests, and the lay faithful throughout the world the benefit of our exchanges. We do this in a spirit of love for the Church's unity. Although ideology divides, truth unites hearts. Scrutinising the doctrine of salvation can only unite the Church around her Divine Master. We do this in a spirit of charity. To us it appeared useful and necessary to publish this work at a time when minds seem to have calmed down." "Therefore we fraternally offer these reflections to the people of God, and, of course, in a spirit of filial obedience, to Pope Francis."

Holy Mother Church is very blessed to have the benefit of these two great teachers, few of us expected to read new teaching from the pen of Joseph Ratzinger. Use them wisely. As Nicholas Diat, the editor, writes, "Two bishops decide to reflect. Two bishops decide to make public the fruits of their eminent research. The text by Benedict XVI is of high theological order. The one by Cardinal Sarah has formidable catechetical strength. Their arguments intersect, their words complement each other, their intellects are mutually stimulating."

FINDING OF OUR PATRON'S HOLY HEAD

Today is the (uncelebrated) third feast of our Patron, of the finding in Jerusalem of the Head of Saint John the Baptist, Precursor of the Lord. As the Martyrology puts it, "the first finding".

Those who often think they are sophisticated and choose to mock the many pious traditions surrounding the Baptist, his double feasts in the Church's calendar, his three or four heads preserved around the world, may wish to pause and reflect how this is no more that a reflection of his great significance in the history of Salvation, and the large place he plays in the devotional life of the Church throughout the Ages. These very traditions are the testimony and guarantee of the efficacy of John's care and intercession for us.

May Saint John the Baptist, our daily companion in our spiritual warfare, accompany us all, Knights Dames and Companions of the Order, this holy season of Lent.

That Christ may increase, and we decrease.

St John the Baptist, pray for us.

DOWRY - RENEWAL OF KING RICHARD II's CONSECRATION BY OUR BISHOPS.

IT could fairly be said that the Consecration of England as the Dowry of Mary, by King Richard II in Westminster Abbey in 1381, was the greatest act of Tuitio Fidei in the history of our country. 

It is thus fitting that members of the Order of Malta should join enthusiastically with the Bishops of England and Wales in the renewal of this Consecration on March 29th, the Sunday following the feast of the Annunciation, Lady Day, this year. This devotion is of course being promoted by our confrere and chaplain, the Rector of Walsingham, Monsignor John Armitage.

The Dedication is to be preceded by 33 days of prayer and preparation, starting now.

After over 600 years, and nearly 500 years of Protestant Reformation, what an honour for us to see in our lifetime this glorious, powerful, and auspicious event. May it be a turning point in our country's history and spiritual life.

Members of the Order and Companions are encouraged to promote this devotion in their families and workplace.  

There is a website HERE, called BEHOLD-2020, with much excellent information and an online resource for the prayers of the 33-day Consecration, which follows the ancient formula codified by St Louis-Marie de Montfort, and which was, we are told by him, already old by the time of King Richard, and known in England in the centuries following the Reformation.

The Consecration will take place simultaneously in many places around the country on the 29th March, look out for details in your parishes, and we are encouraged to make the Consecration also within our own homes and families as a personal consecration. 

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

St John the Baptist, pray for us.

St Edward the Confessor, pray for us.

St Edmund King and Martyr, pray for us.

St George, pray for us.

All Holy Angels, guard us.

DOS TUA VIRGO PIA HÆC EST, QUARE REGE MARIA

FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF OUR CHURCH(ES)!

The 20th February is the Feast of the Dedication of the Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem in Valetta, dedicated to our holy Patron, and built as the principal church of the Order by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière, of which we were deprived by the actions of the tyrant Napoleon, and now known as St John's Co-Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Malta. 

It is also kept here in London, by time-honoured custom in religious orders, as the feast of our own Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem (above), which remains the seat of the Order in England, despite all the vicissitudes (which themselves form part of the Order's tradition, as these three churches shew!). 

It was also the kept as the feast of our former eponymous church in Clerkenwell, of which we were deprived by the actions of the tyrant King Henry VIII.  We include below Sir Ninian Comper's fanciful plans for its reconstruction after the Second World War.

"The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone!" Let us celebrate these three churches, and the memory of our glorious forebears who built them. It is celebrated as a Feast throughout the Order, and a Solemnity within the churches themselves. The prayers are given below.

(Click to enlarge)

Antiphon at I Vespers:
The Lord has sanctified his tabernacle; for this is the house of God wherein his name shall be invoked, of which it is written: "and my name shall be there," says the Lord. 

V. This is the house of the Lord, strongly built.
R. It is well founded upon firm rock. 

Collect
O GOD, who year by year renew for us the day when this your holy temple was consecrated, hear the prayers of your people and grant that in this place for you there may always be pure worship, and for us fullness of redemption. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Antiphon at Lauds
"Zaccaheus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay in your house." And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully into his house. Today salvation has come to this house from God. 

Antiphon at II Vespers
O how awesome is this place. Truly this is none other than the house of God and the gate of Heaven.  

St John the Baptist, pray for us. 

FEAST OF SAINT PAUL'S SHIPWRECK

Today is celebrated the commemoration of the Holy Apostle Paul's shipwreck on Malta.

Gustave Doré's vision of the shipwreck,
every bit as horrify as the Holy Apostle's description.

"Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea." 2 Corinthians 11:25

The Cave where the Holy Apostle sheltered, at the place now called St Paul's Bay.

"And when we were escaped, then we knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and refreshed us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold." Acts 28:1,2

ANNIVERSARY OF FRA' ANDREW BERTIE

Tomorrow, Friday 7th February, is the 12th Anniversary of the death of Servant of God Fra' Andrew Bertie, 78th Prince and Grand Master.

MOST HOLY TRINITY,

we, Your humble children, thank You for having given us 

Your servant Fra' Andrew Bertie,

and for having made him, in the fulfilment of his lofty charge 

and his personal consecration to You,

an example of radiant faith,

shown by his love for the Holy Eucharist,

the intensity of his prayer,

his fidelity to the Divine Office,

his most edifying spirit of recollection,

and his assistance to the Poor and Suffering,

according to the ancient charism of the Order of Malta,

Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum.

Gloria Patri...

LORD,

Your servant Fra' Andrew Bertie showed us, 

by his fidelity to Your example and teaching,

the path of holiness and the true measure of Christian life.

Through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin,

venerated under the title of Queen of Mount Phileremos,

whom he so deeply loved and confidently invoked,

grant, we pray, that he may be exalted on earth

for Your greater glory, and that we may obtain by his intercession

the grace we so ardently implore.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pater, Ave, Gloria.

(Imprimatur, Vicariate of Rome, 16.X.2012)

Information HERE.

"HE MUST INCREASE AND I MUST DECREASE"

... thus spake our Holy Patron.

The Baptist, Geertgen van Haarlem

"Those who truly believe do not attribute too much importance to the struggle for reform of ecclesiastical structures. ... For the Church is most present, not where organising, reforming, and governing are going on, but in those who simply believe and receive from her the gift of faith that is life to them." (Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity)

"Hence true "reform" does not mean to take great pains to erect new façades (contrary to what certain ecclesiologies think). Real "reform" is to strive to let what is ours disappear as much as possible so that what belongs to Christ may become more visible. It is a truth well known to the saints. Saints, in fact, reformed the Church in depth, not by working up plans for new structures, but by reforming themselves. What the Church needs in order to respond to the needs of man is every age is holiness, not management." (Joseph Ratzinger, The Ratzinger Report)

Every member of our ancient and noble Order is able to do this, however frustrated they may feel in the face of endless structural manoeuvrings.  Theirs will be the true reform.  And the true reward.

Blessed John the Baptist, pray for us.