THE FIRE OF PENTECOST - FATHER HAMILTON PREACHES

 

Yesterday, on the Holy Feast of Pentecost, our Chaplain, Father Joseph Hamilton, Private Secretary to Cardinal Pell, preached the following Homily at the Chapel of All Saints, Wardour Castle. We are deeply grateful to him for allowing us to share it.

“THOU HAST CONQUERED, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath”.  This, a famous quote paraphrased by the Victorian poet Charles Swinburne, takes the words of Julian the Apostate and injects them with just a little bit more vitriol. The story goes that Julian, at the age of 32, led his army into defeat in Mesopotamia. Mortally wounded with blood, covering his hands he tossed the blood in the air and famously said, “thou hast conquered, Galilean”. Julian, the nephew of Constantine the Great, Emperor in his own right for just two year’s had publicly renounced Christianity two years earlier. Turning his back on the faith he had been brought up in, he restored paganism, wrote against Christianity, and even planned to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, not for the honour of the Jewish religion but to prove the invalidity of the Christian. His poet admirer Swinburne would probably have made a good head of religious programming content for the BBC.  

 

The words Swinburne put into Julian’s mouth are that the world has grown grey from the breath of the Galilean. The breath of Jesus. The breath of God. The ruach of the Old Testament.  The breath that hovered over the waters of Genesis at the beginning of Time.  Who knows what was in the mind of the author of Genesis as he wrote those words? With the contemporary advances in physics … had he seen, was he writing of the Holy Ghost as a vast cosmic wind moving through the void, coalescing as the presence of the Trinity? Had he seen the Second Person of the Trinity making the Word of the Father reality, the fiat lux of Genesis light exploding in what today we call the big bang? 

 

The author of Genesis had inspired knowledge of the Trinity, St. Augustine in his homily on Genesis tells us that at the beginning of each of the days of Creation, the angels would contemplate the things that God would create at that day, and in the evening the angelic host erupted in a paean of praise for the things created. Our own prayers should always include an element of praise. The Gloria we have just sung does just that in the Mass … we will lift our voices again shortly to join the thunder of the seraphim and cherubim in their triumphant chorus of Holy, Holy, Holy, ... St Augustine tells us that at the last moment of creation God, says, “let us make man in our own image”; Father, Son and Holy Spirit descend over the newly created planet Earth, the Holy Spirit standing as a person in his own right, the Trinity surrounded by the angelic court.  A foretaste of what awaits us in Heaven. 

 

The primal moments of Genesis are repeated after the Resurrection of Our Lord.  He breathes upon his disciples and says to them “receive the Holy Spirit”, and on the morning of Pentecost the disciples hear a sound like a mighty wind. The breath of God, that sends galaxies hurtling out through the Universe, setting stars on fire, moving through a simple house in Jerusalem to accomplish an even more spectacular feat than the creation of the Universe – the creation of the Catholic Church. This time instead of igniting suns, he descends as tongues of flame and the breath of the Galilaean transforms the disciples, establishing the college of bishops and granting to them the fullness of the understanding of Revelation.  And those twelve simple men go out into the world and with the Gospel of Jesus Christ change the course of human history. 

 

Twelve. There are a hundred people in this Church this morning. Think of what we might do if we were filled with the Holy Spirit the way the initial Twelve were.  You might say to me –Father, that sort of stuff is not for us. To which I reply, “rubbish”. God has a plan for everyone sitting in this Church this morning. Some he has appointed to be Apostles, some he has appointed to be Teachers, some he has appointed to be Mums and Dads, some he has appointed to be Knights of Malta, he has even chosen the most unlikely to be priests.  But you know what? He wants All to be saved. He wants everyone in this Church to be happy, not just here on Earth but with Him forever in Heaven. And he wants us to get out there and show the happiness that He offers to a world that so desperately needs it.

 

We have come through very difficult period, I am sure we all know people whose lives have been claimed by the pandemic; for us who are still here, lives have been changed by the pandemic. But this morning, this Pentecost, we are here in this Church, praying for the Holy Spirit to transform our lives. We might not hear a mighty wind, tongues of flame might not appear over our heads, but if we ask, if we pray, in true poverty of spirit, “Come Holy Spirit, I give you permission to enter into, and transform my life”, then that power which descended on the Apostles at Pentecost will overshadow and enter your soul and transform you.

 

The Emperor Julian died at 32, in the prime of youth.  He had everything the world could desire. He ate the finest food, could afford the most fashionable clothes, drifted between palaces, and sought to emulate Alexander the Great. He desired the colour, encouraged the bizarreness, and indulged in the brutality of the ancient pagan, and frankly Satanic cults.  Today his is the life that is held out to us as being full, Instragrammable, Facebookable, Twitter-worthy.  And yet here he is with his last breath accusing Jesus’s breath of having turned the world grey. The world turned grey. This chapel is anything but grey – look about you! Today’s feast reveals that poor Emperor Julian had subscribed to an ancient lie, a lie that is presented to us by the world again and again … the lie is this: if you believe in God, if you believe in Jesus, if you live according to the laws and precepts God has set down, as our Church preserves and teaches, then you will not be free, you will not be able to live in technicolour; you’ll be boring, unattractive, no one will follow you on Facebook, your world will be just grey. That is a lie, that is the dangerous rubbish that the Devil whispers in our ears.

  

So here, in this chapel this Pentecost morning let’s reproclaim the Truth that countless saints and holy men and women have loved and lived, and passed on to us: If we believe in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit we need have no fear of anything – pandemics, wars, recessions, even death. If we believe in Jesus we will never be without a friend in need, and if we embrace the gifts of the Holy Spirit being poured out today, really embrace them, we will be transformed, and we as Catholic Christians can repaint the world in colours so vivid the glories of the Renaissance will pale by comparison. That is the truth of our faith. That is the truth of the Pentecost, and that is the truth of the Holy Spirit being poured out on His Church again today. Our duty this morning is get out there and proclaim it, and in doing so renew the face of the Earth. 

 

Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION - AN ETHICAL BATTLE

Only very rarely does this Blog venture into fields outside the immediate life of the Order of Saint John, and that only where there are matters directly concerning ethics and morals, where our duty of Tuitio Fidei requires a reaction.

One such arises now, an international proposal to remove in most cases the right to conscientious objection on the part of medical practitioners, (this is, as in the Great War, almost always concerned with killing people.)

The text concerned reads:

“Physicians have an ethical obligation to minimize interruptions in patient care. Conscientious objection should only be considered if the individual patient is not discriminated against or disadvantaged, the patient's health is not in jeopardy, and continuity of care without delay is ensured through effective and timely referral to another qualified physician."

In other words, conscientious objection would be limited:

* If it is considered that not performing an abortion is discrimination, it would be outside the Ethical Code. 

* If it is considered that not performing an abortion is an attack on health understood as the state of well-being.

* An objector is obliged to refer his patient to another practitioner who does not object, in other words, collaborate with what he objects to.

The burden of proof will be shifted on to the medical practitioner to justify his objection.

Please look at the information at the link HERE, and we encourage you to sign the PETITION if you feel this within your moral compass.

Finally, please pray that this advancing onslaught of evil, which threatens every ethical base in all walks of our life and even in the Church, whose Holy Motherhood some would seek to corrupt, may be crushed by the prayers of the saints. We suggest you invoke Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, newly canonised, pediatrician, and patroness of mothers and unborn children.

Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum!

Beata Maria de Phileremo, ora pro nobis

Sancta Gianna Beretta Molla, or pro nobis

LITANY OF SAINT JOSEPH - NEW INVOCATIONS

On the feast of Saint Joseph Opifex, the first of May, the Holy See has promulgated seven new invocations in the Litany of Saint Joseph, in the 150th year of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. These invocations are drawn from the writings of  intervening Popes.

The Congregation for Divine Worship's letter states: “On the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, published the Apostolic Letter Patris corde, with the aim ‘to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal’, in this light, it appeared opportune to update the Litany in honour of Saint Joseph, approved by the Apostolic See in 1909, by integrating seven new invocations drawn from the interventions of the Popes who have reflected on aspects of the figure of the Patron of the Universal Church.” The Congregation presented the new invocations to Pope Francis, who approved their integration into the Litany of Saint Joseph. 

The new texts have been published in Latin, we understand it is for the English bishops to prepare translations in due course.  The seven invocations might be translated as: Guardian of the Redeemer, Servant of Christ, Minister of salvation, Support in difficulties, Patron of the exiled, Patron of the afflicted, Patron of the poor. It will be seen that they chime very deeply with the spiritual and hospitaller charism of the Order of Saint John.

The new invocations are printed below in Bold.

LITANIÆ IN HONOREM S. IOSEPH SPONSI B. MARIÆ V.

Kyrie, eléison, (ii)

Christe, eléison, (ii)

Kyrie, eléison, (ii) 

Christe, audi nos,

Christe, exáudi nos, 

Pater de cælis, Deus, miserére nobis,

Fili, Redémptor mundi, Deus, miserére nobis,

Spíritus sancte, Deus, miserére nobis,

Sancta Trínitas, unus Deus, miserére nobis, 

Sancta María, ora pro nobis,

Sancte Ioseph, ora pro nobis,

Proles David ínclyta, ora pro nobis,

Lumen Patriarchárum, ora pro nobis,

Dei Genitrícis sponse, ora pro nobis,

Custos Redemptóris, ora pro nobis,

Custos púdice Vírginis, ora pro nobis,

Fílii Dei nutrítie, ora pro nobis,

Christi defénsor sédule, ora pro nobis,

Serve Christi, ora pro nobis,

Mínister salútis, ora pro nobis,

Alma Famíliæ præses, ora pro nobis,

Ioseph iustíssime, ora pro nobis,

Ioseph castíssime, ora pro nobis,

Ioseph prudentíssime, ora pro nobis,

Ioseph fortíssime, ora pro nobis,

Ioseph obedientíssime, ora pro nobis,

Ioseph fidelíssime, ora pro nobis,

Spéculum patiéntiæ, ora pro nobis,

Amátor paupertátis, ora pro nobis,

Exémplar opíficum, ora pro nobis,

Domésticæ vitæ decus, ora pro nobis,

Custos vírginum, ora pro nobis,

Familiárum cólumen, ora pro nobis,

Fulcímen in difficultátibus, ora pro nobis,

Solátium miserórum, ora pro nobis,

Spes ægrotántium, ora pro nobis,

Patróne éxsulum, ora pro nobis,

Patróne afflictórum, ora pro nobis,

Patróne páuperum, ora pro nobis,

Patróne moriéntium, ora pro nobis,

Terror daémonum, ora pro nobis,

Protéctor sanctæ Ecclésiæ, ora pro nobis,

 

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccáta mundi, parce nobis, Dómine.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccáta mundi, exaúdi nos, Dómine.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccáta mundi, miserére nobis.

 

V/. Constítuit eum dóminum domus suæ.

R/. Et príncipem omnis possessiónis suæ.

 

Orémus.

Deus, qui ineffábili providéntia beátum Ioseph, sanctíssimæ Genitrícis tuæ sponsum elígere dignátus es, praésta, quaésumus, ut, quem protectórem venerámur in terris, intercessórem habére mereámur in cælis. Qui vivis et regnas in saécula sæculórum.  Amen. 

Pro Supplicatione ad Deum in capite Litaniarum et Conclusione eligi possunt formulae A vel B pro Litaniis Sanctorum in CALENDARIUM ROMANUM ex Decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticanii II instauratum auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum, Typis Polyglottis, Vaticanis 1969, pp. 33 et 37 propositis.

SAINT LOUIS-MARIE AND SAINT JOSEPH

This year, the Holy Father's Year of Saint Joseph, the Octave of the erstwhile Solemnity of Saint Joseph coincides with the Feast of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, the great 18th Century apostle of the Virgin Mary. All Catholics, and certainly all Members of the Order who take their faith seriously, should seriously consider the Consecration to Jesus through Mary promoted by Saint Louis-Marie. Saint and popes, most notably Saint John-Paul II, have recommended this salutary and necessary antidote to the evils of our age.

SAINT LOUIS-MARIE DE MONTFORT'S PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH

HAIL JOSEPH the Just, Wisdom is with you, blessed art thou among men, and blessed is Jesus, the fruit of Mary, thy faithful spouse. Holy Joseph, worthy foster-father of Our Lord, pray for us sinners and obtain Divine Wisdom for us from God, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Totus tuus ego sum, O Maria.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Louis-Marie, pray for us.

REPORT AND TEXT - DAY OF RECOLLECTION

The first Day of Recollection following the lifting of the the Covid Lockdown took place at the Assumption Warwick Street on Saturday.

As usual, the day began with sung Lauds, followed by an excellent meditation by Father Mark Elliott-Smith, the Rector; Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, and Sung Mass. It was the feast, in this City, of Saint Mellitus Bishop of London. It was also, of course, in the Universal Calendar, Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, of whom a relic in the care of the Order was exposed for veneration.

For those many members of the Order for whom, for many and varied reasons, travelling is still not possible, and who were thus unable to attend, and no doubt when lunch together is again possible it will become much easier, Fr Elliot-Smith's wonderful commentary is given below. It merits careful attention, and will help lead you through these continuing difficult times.

IT'S BEEN A FAIR WHILE I imagine since we have been able to do a morning of recollection in the flesh. And I certainly have begun to lose any affection I may have had for Zoom, so it’s rather good to be here. But I am aware that we might be out of practice at sitting around in a Hall for a spiritual conference, and one of Prince Philip’s bon mots comes to mind: ‘The mind cannot absorb what the backside cannot endure.’ I will keep that in mind.

 

I’ve just returned from a week in the Welsh marches with some friends. Yes, I’ve been on a staycation, and very nice it was to catch up with friends and to see some of the wonderful countryside in Shropshire, and being lucky with the weather.

 

And it was lovely. And the only but is this: that I enjoy travel, and I enjoy Southern Europe, and I am missing Rome, and Seville, and a host of other places where the Catholic sun doth shine. And for all the last year or so, they may as well have been on Mars. And lots of people have had it far harder: the hospitality industry, the students, the schoolchildren, the shops, barbers, those struggling with their mental healthy: all struggling to come through.

 

And now, at long long last, we might be beginning to see the first glimpses of something like the life we knew. And until now, we have been living off memories of what it was like.

 

And one particular memory came to me for a particular reason. I was Madrid a few years ago, and took the opportunity to visit the Prado. Towards the end, I saw the so-called black paintings of Goya, originally found on the walls of his house, and which he produced when he was in his early seventies. Such a contrast to his earlier work: the court paintings, the detailed studies of princes and royal families... But Goya had by now survived serious illness, had been caught up in all the political turmoil of the time, and was no doubt traumatized by much of what he had witnessed.

 

But these are brooding, terrifying, and creepy: a drowning dog, a witches Sabbath, two old men eating soup; malevolent faces and malevolent smiles. Well, they’re not cheery. Perhaps the most famous depicts Saturn devouring his son. The original myth, if you remember, was that Saturn had overthrown his father, and that it was prophesied that he in turn would be overthrown by one of his own children, and Saturn sought to escape the fulfillment of the prophecy by devouring his own children one by one. It’s pretty horrible, but the artist captures the horror and despair of Saturn vividly. It’s sometimes suggested that it was an allegory of the situation in Spain and how revolutions consume their own children.

 

The reason I mention this rather grisly subject, apologies! is that I read this week that Richard Dawkins, the grand old man of atheism and producer of many books on why he is right about everything, has had an award bestowed upon him in 1996 by the American Humanist Association revoked. It was, apparently, his most treasured award: Humanist of the Year.

 

The reason? He called into question, in an academic way, whether it was possible for people to self identify as male or female, black or white, when it might be politely said that the evidence to support their assertion was not overwhelming.

 

Now, it’s not my purpose to be involved in that minefield. Simply to suggest this: when a certain type of wokery has lost touch with common sense and reality it tends to overthrow its founding fathers, turn on them, cancel them. Germaine Greer found something rather similar some years ago. We shall wait and see, but I strongly suspect, some time down the line, that those who cancel their elders, will end up in the dock of their youngers for some thought crime as yet to be uncovered.

So, what’s going on?

 

A few weeks ago, we relived the events of Holy Week; Jesus is on trial before Pilate, and in John’s Gospel we hear Jesus words: “The reason I have come into the world, is to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

 

And Pilate’s response: ‘Truth?... and what is that?’

 

Having heard Oprah Winfrey say recently ‘thank you for speaking your truth’, I can’t help asking myself whether our understanding of truth has, like Pilate’s, been derailed by subjectivity. My truth can only be my truth if it’s also your truth. I might interpret what I see differently to somebody else, I might draw different conclusions about a sequence of events, but if my version differs radically from somebody else’s, it’s not because I have a private truth, equally valid to the other person, it’s because I am more or less right, while the other person is more or less wrong, or vice versa.

 

This was essentially the warning that Pope Benedict gave us when, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he preached that famous homily on the eve of his own election: “We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires.’

 

This can happen when we become closed in on ourselves, lose our humility and forget that we are not masters of Truth but only its servants. We shouldn’t forget, by the way, that the Hebrew understanding of truth has its roots in solidity: that which is rock like and sure. It’s not so much a philosophical concept as an anchor, or a deep root, or a foundation. And for us, Truth is found, not in raw data, but a Person, Jesus, the Keystone, the rock on which our faith is built and in Him Creation, with all its wonder and glory, is redeemed and transformed. Science and Reason and Faith are not in opposition, but majestic harmony:

 

‘Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.’

 

How I wish those words from St John Paul II could be heard the world over: our desire for truth is God given, is intimately bound up with loving Him, and leads us ever deeper into the truth about ourselves: not ‘my’ truth, nor ‘your’ truth, but ‘the’ truth, bathed in the light of reason flowing from the seat of Divine Wisdom, and which alone is the source of human dignity, grace, justice, mercy, and knowledge.

 

Philosophy and the sciences function within the order of natural reason; while faith, enlightened and guided by the Spirit, recognizes in the message of salvation the “fullness of grace and truth” (cf. Jn 1:14) which God has willed to reveal in history and definitively through his Son, Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Jn 5:9; Jn 5:31-32).

 

The devil has been very busy lately: stirring up divisions in society, and undermining the concept of truth as eternal and unchanging, and repackaging it as not something we serve and seek, but rather create for ourselves. It’s wicked, because this counterfeit becomes a tool for the powerful and the loud, rather than Truth, which speaks with a still small voice.

 

It will be our work, as part of what I suspect will be the smaller church that then Fr Joseph Ratzinger foresaw way back in the 1960s, to be witnesses to the Truth in whatever way God calls us to. While the circumstances in which this happened might not be the ones he envisaged, I think that what he saw as inevitable has been hastened by the events of the last eighteen months. But he spoke, too, of the power that would flow from this humbled, renewed, and smaller Church: a Liturgy in which God, not self, is glorified and worshipped, hearts that beat to the rhythm of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and minds humbly attuned to the seeking of Truth in its fullness.

 

I have lost count of the times when people have spoken to me about their time during lockdown.

 

Some have struggled for reasons easy to imagine: restricted space, young family, uncertain future, limited income. Some have flourished: chance to read, to stop, to step back from the daily grind or daily commute.

 

On a purely practical level, Truth gives us an opportunity to love. If it is true that lockdown has been kind to some and harsh on others, and it is, it is part of our vocation to go about, with renewed vigour, the spiritual work of prayer for and the corporal work of mercy for those who have suffered.

 

So, while the devil might have been very busy, it is our chance to renew: charity and mercy, rooted in humble prayer and worship, is instantly recognisable as the real thing.

 

One Saint we might take a moment to reflect on is Philip Neri. Although he is most obviously associated with the Oratory he is, I think, a man for our times. Not only was he blessed with a natural charm and sweetness of nature, he was deeply committed to the revival of faith in very difficult times, largely achieved by a supernatural desire to love God and to good. He knew he couldn’t do it without help: ‘watch over me today because I will betray You and do all the evil in the world if You do not help me.’ His charity, humility, capacity to see the best in others, his desire to serve, to engage in the corporal works of mercy, all came together to become a formidable force for renewal. 

 

If we are tempted to brood on the way in which society or the world is going, or on divisions in the Church, or corruption in high places, it is comforting to think that a small dose of concentrated holiness and joy is more than enough to put the evil one to flight.

 

Finally, let us turn to our Lady. She is the one, after all, who shows what it means to live by the truth. She points to her Son, and says ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ She is there, in the upper room, praying with the disciples before the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit by Whose power she conceived and bore a Son, the Word, the Way, Truth and the Life.

 

May she pray for us as we seek to do our part in the renewal of the Church and Her divine Mission.

HOMILY FOR OUR LATE CHAPLAIN MGR ANTONY CONLON

High Mass of Requiem was sung for the repose of the soul of our dear late Brother and Chaplain, who served the Order loyally for some fifty years, at the Church of the Assumption Warwick Street, following his wishes. The celebrant was Fr John Hemer MHM, assisted by Fr Nicholas Edmonds-Smith, Provost of the Oxford Oratory, and Fr Gary Dench. The homily, published below, was preached by Father David Elliott, Chaplain of the Oratory School, Reading. Grand Prior emeritus Fra' Ian Scott, Abbot Hugh Allen OPraem, and Monsignor John Armitage, present Chaplain of the Grand Priory, were in choir.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

FUNERAL ORATION PREACHED BY FATHER DAVID ELLIOTT

I would like to say a few words today about why coming to God’s altar in grief is a sign of a strong society and a strong Church. We will be familiar with the injunction in the Book of II Maccabees to pray for the dead. And while we pray for God’s mercy upon all souls, we especially seek to pray for those Christian souls who have responded to Christ’s message in this life, and who have sought to pass that message to others in Word and in Sacrament: ‘All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.’ (John 6)

While this address is not intended as a eulogy for Fr Antony, I hope at least he might assent to some of the sentiments contained herein. With that in mind, it would be remiss not to refer at least once to royalty. In the 2006 film, The Queen, which sought to chronicle the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, The Queen seeks counsel from Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. Uncompromisingly the latter complains, ‘you sit on the most powerful throne in Europe, head of an unbroken line that goes back more than a thousand years. Do you really think that any of your predecessors would’ve dropped everything and gone up to London because a bunch of hysterics carrying candles needed help with their grief…’

Whoever wrote those lines understood all too well our modern problem with grief: a problem which our dearly departed friend spent much of his priestly life trying to correct.

Now, some count themselves fortunate, the Church has embraced our modern world: presenting innovation as authentic religion rediscovered from the earliest Church, after having been suppressed for centuries. Mourning, we are told, shows a distinct lack of faith; praying for forgiveness implies a lack of godliness; and black is a most pagan colour. 

But this self-same novel attitude to grief has led to the hysterical masses and their candles which are quite literally meaningless. Mary Douglas in her anthropological masterpiece ‘Natural Symbols’ written in 1970 (note the date) lamented the divorce between rituals and their meaning. The demise of ritual, she says, leads to an individualisation of religion. The mistake is to see this as progressive in contrast to ritualism which is seen as primitive – a false distinction. The distinction is not between primitive and progressive but between weak society and strong society. A strong society preserves those ritual actions which build community and impart identity. The hysterical masses carry their candles: religious symbols emptied of meaning.

Just over a year ago in a series of midweek discussions on the Catholic faith I spoke to indulgences. The dearth of understanding even by Catholics of many decades standing was clear. One did mention the importance he attached to taking his sister to visit his parents’ grave in November, but when asked why they went the reply was ‘to remember’. No mention of indulgence, no mention of prayers for the souls of the departed, just to remember. Faith and ritual emptied of meaning, reduced to an act of remembrance, the stuff of the protestants and atheists. 

The hallmarks of a strong Catholic society is the adherence to the Corporal and Spiritual works of mercy. At Fr Antony’s all too brief and simple graveside funeral last year we did at least show that final act of mercy towards his body. But we also derive encouragement and satisfaction from his example in life as a priest and school chaplain and also in the effective work he did in his many years’ service to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and his other associations.

No less important were those spiritual acts of mercy. I believe the first of these: education of the ignorant, is something he saw as a particular task. In all he did he sought to bring others closer to the Church in an era when this was an increasingly difficult task. 

Our actions today are the actions of a strong society. A strong society here in earth but even more the bonds which tie us to that stronger society still – the Church in Purgatory and the Church Triumphant. The mutual co-operation which binds the three parts of the one Church.

St John Henry Newman in his Dream of Gerontius saw Purgatory as a necessary prison, indeed, a ‘golden prison’ 

‘Now let the golden prison ope its gates,

Making sweet music, as each fold revolves

Upon its ready hinge. And ye, great powers,

Angels of Purgatory, receive from me

My charge, a precious soul, until the day,

When, from all bond and forfeiture released,

I shall reclaim it for the courts of light.’


There is no name given to the soul of the old man. Not because he has none but because he can be any man. The task of our Mass today is to pray for the soul of our friend, ask for his soul stained with sin to be wiped clean, that the Angels’ return to waken him for Heaven may be quicker. That sacrifice on the Cross which broke down the doors of hell and unlocked the gates to Heaven is made here present today, upon the altar of the Church in which we stand. United in the Sacrifice of Christ we are given assurance that the soul of our friend lives on and through these prayers, the same gates of Heaven appear ever larger as, we pray, his soul comes closer to God. For the part of the Saints in Heaven they too urge on those self-same souls in Purgatory pulling them ever closer to their Communion of Saints. Just as Michelangelo in his famous painting of The Last Judgment depicted St Dominic drawing souls close to Heaven with his blessed Rosary beads, so today we know that the Saints pull the souls of the departed closer with their prayers as we press them on with ours. 

Those rosary beads were among the few possessions Fr Antony had with him as he departed this life one year ago. The Sunday after Easter Day is an auspicious day with its many associations: Dominica in Albis, Low Sunday, St Thomas Sunday (My Lord and my God), Divine Mercy Sunday declared by Pope St John Paul II who then himself died after first Vespers, and Quasimodo Sunday after the first word of the Introit: ‘As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation: If so be you have tasted that the Lord is sweet’. (1 Peter 2:2). To taste that the Lord is sweet for Eternity is what we ask for ourselves and those whom we love. Many in our world seek to take what is good and wholesome and turn it against itself. As an historian in his own right our dearly departed brother sought to address damage done by the previous centuries which had become a bar to others tasting the sweetness of the Lord. 

Indeed as we know Victor Hugo (he had to be a Frenchman) twisted the Quasimodo phrase: a deformed child abandoned, the archdeacon of the Church of Notre Dame who becomes increasingly twisted, represented that brand of thought diametrically opposed to Faith and Truth. Hugo and his twisted creations ultimately products of the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror which knocked down the altars dedicated to Christ, tossed crucifixes into the streets, and introduced the cult of the goddess Reason. The spiritual patrimony, and in particular, the patrimony of Christianity were thus torn from their evangelical foundation. What the true historian sees is that, in order to restore Christianity to its full vitality, it is essential to return these to that foundation. The task of the true philosopher is to undo that which made Voltaire and Rousseau boast: ‘God made man in his own image, and man has repaid the compliment.’ But the candle of faith (not a hysterical one) still burns. It burns because of faithful souls who refuse to accept the recasting of God in their own image. And it burns because of that strong bond within the Church. It is this which attracted our brother and fed him throughout his service to the Church. For him, the Church and God could never be the disfigured caricature of Hugo’s imagination nor a narcissistic Hall of Mirrors. A life in search of Truth, of Beauty, of Reconciliation, and Salvation. A recognition in Our Lady’s words that ‘The Mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name’. 

Ὅτι ἐποίησέν μοι μεγάλα ὁ δυνατός, καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ.

EASTERTIDE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH

 

In former days, before Pope Pius XII instituted the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker on the 1st May, today, the Wednesday of the second week after the Easter Octave, was celebrated as the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary, Confessor and Patron of the Universal Church, with an octave.  Attentive souls will have noticed that Holy Mother Church often gives us a 'cheerful' feast later in the year, which may be observed with due solemnity, to mirror those which are invariably celebrated in Lent.

This year, being established by the Holy Father Pope Francis as the Year of Saint Joseph, there is good reason to note this glorious day, and to increase our prayers to Saint Joseph during this coming week.

Pray especially for all those who are making the Consecration to Saint Joseph this year. All Catholics should consider seriously adding this level of supernatural assistance to their spiritual life. (See HERE.  Buy book HERE.)

MEMORARE OF SAINT JOSEPH

Memorare, O purissime Sponse Virginis Mariæ, non esse auditum a sæculo, quemquam ad tua currentem præsidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia ad te venio, tibique fervide me commendo. Noli, O Pater putative Redemptoris, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitius et exaudi. Amen.

Remember, O most pure Spouse of the Virgin Mary, never was it heard that anyone who implored thy help nor sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence I come to thee, to thee do I fervently commend myself. Despise not my petitions, I beseech thee, O foster Father of the Redeemer, but graciously hear and answer them. Amen.

Ite ad Joseph!

ANNIVERSARY OF DR ANTONY CONLON RIP

A High Mass of Requiem will be sung for the repose of the soul of our late Chaplain, Monsignor Antony Francis Maximilian Conlon, at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, at 6.30pm on Monday 19th April, the Anniversary of his Death.

The Celebrant will be our Chaplain Father John Hemer MHM, and the Homily will be preached by Father David Elliott, present Chaplain of the Oratory School, Reading, where Dr Conlon served for many years.

Father Conlon with some young Pilgrims at Holywell, 

with the late Fra' Paul Sutherland, who was buried yesterday.

Requiescant in pace.

VIDEO AND REPORT OF FUNERAL OF FRA' PAUL SUTHERLAND

The funeral of our Brother Paul took place this morning, and may be watched in the video below. The Mass begins at 11:00. It was attended, within the numbers permitted by Covid regulations, by a good representation of Members of the Order, parishioners of Saint James's, neighbours and friends. Vespers of the Dead had been sung the previous evening, presided by our Chaplain Father Stephen Morrison, OPraem.

We print below the text of the Homily preached by our Chaplain and Rector of Saint James's, Father Christopher Colven.

The music at Mass was Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Cruce (Kleine Orgelmesse), by Haydn; Beati quorum via, by Stanford; and Stainer's God so loved the world. Fra' Paul's own hymn to Saint Ethelburga was sung after Communion.  The motet at Vespers was Beati mortui in Domino by Felix Mendelssohn. The Grand Priory is very grateful to the Choir of Saint James's.

The Funeral was followed by burial in Fra' Paul's family grave in Brompton Cemetery, with his great-grandparents.

Paul Andrew Sutherland RIP

“May He support us all the day long till the shadows lengthen, and evening comes, and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and our work is done. Then, in His mercy, may He give us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last”. Words of another convert from Anglicanism, Saint John Henry Newman. 

Paul Sutherland was a true son of the Church. He loved the Faith - it drew together the strands of his character and it gave coherence to his whole personality. It was from the Church’s sacraments that he drew his strength, and, above all, he drew that strength from Christ’s Presence here in the Eucharist. And of course he loved the Order of Malta to which he had committed himself as a Knight of Justice in  Solemn Vows – vows that he solemnly professed only a yard or two from where his body now lies.                      

Paul was a serious Christian without being over-serious about it. He knew his need of grace, and in ensuring that this Mass be offered he wanted each of us to invoke the mercy of God on his soul – the soul of a sinner, like us all, but one who was confident in the knowledge of being a redeemed sinner. Saint John of the Cross accepted that “in the evening of life we shall be judged on our love”. On that basis we have no hesitation in commending Paul, in all his charity, in all the gentleness and kindness of his character, in his complete integrity, to the mercy of God.

But as Paul would want us to remember, and as he has emphasised in his choice of the particular passage from Saint John’s Gospel (5: 24-29) we have just heard, each of us must face a moment of truth in our dying. When we come into the Father’s presence, when we see ourselves as we truly are, as we might have been as we should have been, it will be a devastating experience. No excuse. Everything  transparent at last. But the judgement we face will be utterly merciful. How can it be other when the One who will be standing by our side says of himself: “the hour will come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live?”

The Gospel passage has Jesus also say to his disciples: “the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life”. That Paschal Mystery which we are celebrating in these weeks, that transition from death to life, from Good Friday to Easter Day, stands at the heart of Christianity. It enabled Therese of Lisieux to exclaim: “I am not dying; I am entering life”. It is why we can be together here this morning praying in absolute confidence, knowing that the Baptismal covenant made with Paul many years ago, and faithfully lived out by him, most especially in these last consecrated years, is now being honoured by his Saviour, and that he will hear the words of Jesus, face to face, heart to heart, “well done, good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your Lord”.  

In his book “The Problem of Pain”, C S Lewis wrote: “Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it – made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand”. In offering this Mass, we pray that Paul will soon be perfectly attuned to that place in heaven which has been reserved for him from all eternity and for all eternity. 

“Now we see as in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part: then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood”. 

Requiescat in pace. 

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR FRA' PAUL ANDREW SUTHERLAND

The Funeral of our late Professed Brother will take place this Friday 16th April at 10am at Saint James' Church, Spanish Place.

The Body will be received solemnly into Church on the evening of Thursday 16th April at 7pm, and Vespers of the Dead will be sung.

Choir habit will be worn on both occasions.

Due to Covid restrictions, numbers are limited, and those wishing to attend MUST email mc@gpesmom.org to give their name and ensure space is available. 

Both Vespers and the Funeral Mass will be broadcast live on the Parish's YouTube channel HERE, and PDF copies of the Orders of Service for both ceremonies may be requested from the Chancellery of the Grand Priory at mc@gpesmom.org as above.

Sancta Maria de Phileremo, ora pro illo.

Sancte Joseph, ora pro illo.

Sancte Joannes Baptista, ora pro illo.

Sancte Paule, ora pro illo.

Sancte Andrea, ora pro illo.

Beate Gerardo, ora pro illo.

Beate Hadriane, ora pro illo.

Beata Ethelburga, ora pro illo.

The photograph shows the catafalque for a Requiem Mass for Fra' Paul Sutherland at Notre-Dame de la Citadelle, Chalon-sur-Soâne on 8th March.

FIAT – SURREXIT DOMINUS VERE, ALLELUIA!

 Celebrating Easter with Mary our Mother and co-Redeemer.

If Mary could be tempted, as Jesus was in the desert, it was above all at the foot of the Cross – a temptation all the more insidious and painful, as Jesus Himself was the cause.

She believed in the promises, she believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

She knew that if Jesus had prayed for it, the Father would have sent “more than twelve legions of angels” (cf Mt. 26:53). But Jesus did nothing. If he were only to liberate Himself from the Cross, he would liberate her too, free her from her terrible pain.

Yet Mary does not cry out – “Come down from the Cross, save Yourself and me with you!” nor “You saved many others, why do you not now also save Yourself, O my Son?”

Mary keeps silent, “giving to the immolation of the Victim, born of her flesh, the consent of her love” so reads a text of Vatican II. She celebrates his Sacrifice with Him.

Raniero Cardinal Cantalamessa, preacher to the Papal Household. From ‘Mary Mirror of the Church’ 2002. (Trans. GPE.) 

How could the Blessed Virgin, present in the first community of disciples (cf. Acts 1:14), be excluded from those who met her divine Son after he had risen from the dead?

Indeed, it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Could not Mary’s absence from the group of women who went to the tomb at dawn (cf. Mk 16:1; Mt 28:1) indicate that she had already met Jesus? This inference would also be confirmed by the fact that the first witnesses of the Resurrection, by Jesus’ will, were the women who had remained faithful at the foot of the Cross and therefore were more steadfast in faith.

Indeed, the Risen One entrusts to one of them, Mary Magdalene, the message to be passed on to the Apostles (cf. Jn 20:17-18). Perhaps this fact too allows us to think that Jesus showed himself first to his Mother, who had been the most faithful and had kept her faith intact when put to the test.

Lastly, the unique and special character of the Blessed Virgin’s presence at Calvary and her perfect union with the Son in his suffering on the Cross seem to postulate a very particular sharing on her part in the mystery of the Resurrection.

A fifth-century author, Sedulius, maintains that in the splendour of his risen life Christ first showed himself to his mother. In fact, she, who at the Annunciation was the way he entered the world, was called to spread the marvellous news of the Resurrection in order to become the herald of his glorious coming. Thus bathed in the glory of the Risen One, she anticipates the Church’s splendour. cf. Sedulius, Paschale carmen, 5, 357-364, CSEL 10, 140f).

It seems reasonable to think that Mary, as the image and model of the Church which waits for the Risen One and meets him in the group of disciples during his Easter appearances, had had a personal contact with her risen Son, so that she too could delight in the fullness of paschal joy.

Present at Calvary on Good Friday (cf. Jn 19:25) and in the Upper Room on Pentecost (cf. Acts 1:14), the Blessed Virgin too was probably a privileged witness of Christ’s Resurrection, completing in this way her participation in all the essential moments of the paschal mystery. Welcoming the risen Jesus, Mary is also a sign and an anticipation of humanity, which hopes to achieve its fulfilment through the resurrection of the dead.

In the Easter season, the Christian community addresses the Mother of the Lord and invites her to rejoice: “Regina Caeli, laetare. Alleluia!”. “Queen of heaven, rejoice. Alleluia!”. Thus it recalls Mary's joy at Jesus' Resurrection, prolonging in time the “rejoice” that the Angel addressed to her at the Annunciation, so that she might become a cause of “great joy” for all people.

Saint John Paul II (Audience 21 May 1997, Trans. Vatican)

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 10 - POWER AND JUDGEMENT

The final episode in this wonderful series, which fittingly brings our Patron into the context of Catholic England. Our gratitude to the Trustees and academic staff of the National Gallery, London. Let us remember to offer the intentions of our beloved country in our devotions in the coming Easter Triduum. A very blessed and holy Easter to you all!

 

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 9 - OUR PATRON'S HEAD

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 8 - MARTYRDOM

This one starts far more soundly! (though a substantial prize will be awarded to anyone pointing the fleeting error!)

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

FAITH - A RECOLLECTION

The Chaplain of the Grand Priory sends us this meditation for Lent, filmed in the church of his new parish, as we prepare for the Resurrection of Our Blessed Saviour in these difficult times.  Other talks in this series are avaiable on their YouTube page.

Attende Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 7 - BAPTISM

As with our earlier disclaimer, gentle readers are to pay attention to sound sacramental doctrine of the Church and ignore silly anglican games!

 Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE - A BOOK REVIEW

"How the Rule of Blessed Raymond can bring out your inner monk"

a review by William Cash, published in the Catholic Herald today. 

 

A short book on the Rule of Blessed Raymond du Puy, one of the early 12th-century founders of the Order of St John, an ancient religious and military order, sounds like an unlikely sleeper publishing hit. But if you go onto the website of Etsy, you will see that this beautiful slim red volume, which has the feel of a small missal, is in the bestseller section.

In an age when self-help books devoted to the cult of self-improvement sell millions, it’s refreshing to see that there is also a market for books devoted to the charism of spiritual reflection and detachment fromself. This spiritually enriching manual on how to be a Christian pilgrim-knight – in manners, spirit, diet (two meals a day, with wine) and even dress (fur is vulgar and off-limits) – is a call to arms for anybody wanting to reclaim their inner monk. 

“We printed 1,000 copies of this book, which I imagined would languish in my attic for a few years. We are now looking at a reprint,” modestly says Fra’ Max Rumney, procurator of the Order’s Grand Priory. “This popularity is a curiosity and a little miracle.” 

At a time when we all probably spend too much time looking at our phones and other screens, the book is really a reinterpretation of the original 12th-century rule for the modern age. This is all largely thanks to the quirky and idiosyncratic philosophy of the author, the late Father Jerome Bertram of the Oxford Oratory, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries,  who died, aged 70, in 2019, just before this book was published. Like many devotional books of spiritual guidance, the best reveal as much about the author, or translator, as the subject. 

Blessed Raymond was a noble French crusader knight whose paintings depict him with a crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other. The structure of the book is to cleverly take up an anachronistic point from Raymond’s 12th-century rule and make it relevant to today. Jerome makes it clear that the Catholics should celebrate the aesthetic and liturgical riches of the faith. “Zoom Masses leave some of us unmoved,” says Fra’ Max, speaking up or many of today’s “professed knights”. 

He speaks with authority on the subject of turning off one’s phone as he didn’t own such a device. Fr Jerome’s mantra is that we need not just switch off our phones – to get closer to communion with our inner souls – but also sometimes switch off from the “moronic inferno” of the 21st century. Written around 800 years before the modern digital age of 24- hour news cycles and Twitter, Fr Jerome advises that “the practice of silence is even more important in our own day than in the past”. Instead of taking Blessed Raymond’s idea of silence at meals literally, he suggests that reading at meals, if alone, is better for the soul than having some soap opera or game show blaring in the background. 

Social media, Netflix, bingeing on box sets, and “personal stereos” (you sense that Fr Jerome had not discovered the joys of Bluetooth) have ended up “banishing” silence. To break away from this addiction would be an “extremely useful discipline”, he says. To accept silence, he says, rather than filling every waking moment with screen pixels and emails “opens the possibilities of listening to other people and to God”. 

Fr Jerome makes little effort to disguise his feelings (always charitably, of course) about the new religious battles: defending traditional liturgy and doctrine rather than fighting Saladin on meagre rations en route to Jerusalem. There is something of Chaucer’s rust-stained, chainmail-wearing pilgrim knight about Fr Jerome; not least in that he understands that Jerusalem is a state of mind as much as a place. We all strive, every day, to take our own Road to Canterbury, or the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The journey itself – and the way we conduct ourselves, and choices we make, and the example we set along the way searching for the “strength of God’s grace” – are as important as the destination itself. 

In true Knights Hospitaller style, Fr Jerome practised the rule he preached. He worked with the young Oxford Companions of the Order and frequently helped in their soup kitchens for the homeless, and celebrated their termly Masses. 

The timing of Fr Jerome’s book could not have been more apt. “The Rule is an ancient document and deals (largely) with a world that is, on the face of it, unfamiliar to us,” says Fra’ Max. However, Fr Jerome brings the old text to life again by explaining the underlying relevance to modern-day life and spirituality. “The lockdowns have meant that people have looked for spiritual reading. Members of the Order do like to understand the tradition that they follow on from – perhaps locked down at home, we imagined ourselves as a knight of old in his commandary living the charism of the Order in his dealings with his neighbours.”  

Indeed. What I most loved about the book is that it is a thinly veiled manifesto about how the pilgrim-knight should act today. The true pilgrim-knight must also be “ready for action” at all times, always ready to fight his own battles – especially against today’s infidel keyboard warriors of the secular media.

The Rule of Blessed Raymond may be bought online at ETSY, HERE