INTERCEDE PRO DEVOTO FEMINEO SEXU!

It is not every week that Catholic blogs have good news to report, in the continuing onslaught of Evil, of which there are daily examples in every walk of life and in the Church, so it is a joy to be able to report that today the Home Secretary has announced in a written statement that there will be no introduction of buffer zones outside abortion clinics. It is not perfect, the power remains with local authorities to act unilaterally, but it is nevertheless an answer to prayer, to your prayers, those of you who have been following these matters here and elsewhere. Keep praying!

Please pray too for the Home Secretary, Savid Javid, he will be pilloried by the liberal Left. At a time when the Government is so timid and so keen to be seen to be with-it, he has been courageous. A government minister has stood up for that which is just, and must be justly lauded. Already by Labour it has been called a "disgusting failure to uphold women's rights."

Pray for Mothers who in their despair, often pushed into sin, and under relentless pressure from the corrupt world, turn to the dreadful aberration of abortion. Pray for the Mothers who resist and bring souls into the world. And pray for those good souls who keep their simple vigil of peace in the places of Evil. They are painted by the world as wicked manipulators, medieval monsters standing in arrogant judgment, yet they always look rather pathetic, never numerous, usually in the cold, clutching their simple rosaries as they mumble their petitions. Yet they are warriors of great courage, who every time they save a young soul achieve a victory equal to that of Sobieski's victory in Vienna which we celebrated yesterday! Our Lady's victory!

The other piece of good news this week, of course, extraordinary news by any measure, is the consecration of the new Abbess of Our Lady of Ephesus, Gower, Missouri. See here. The first consecrated Abbess in the history of the United States of America.  Now – in the modern Church!   In the Extraordinary Form! Again we have to thank the wonderful Bishop Morlino. The Abbey Church of Our Lady Queen of Apostles was was consecrated the day before according to the pre-1961 Pontifical. The most amazing this about this glorious news is that a handful of Sisters came together only 10 years ago. Since then, they have bought a site, built up their community, built the Romanesque church, built a monastery, and been erected as an abbey by the Holy See. That's how long it takes if you have Faith, that is how soon we could turn around all the troubles of the Church and of our Order. Ten short years. How much we men have to learn in matters of Faith from women!

Pray, then for women, both as Mothers and in the Consecrated Life, those are their only two vocations. Both are under attack now more than ever before.

And pray for men, particularly those who have answered a vocation as Knights, that they may have the courage to emulate the example of their sisters.

ORA PRO POPULO, INTERVENI PRO CLERO, INTERCEDE PRO DEVOTO FEMINEO SEXU!

RELICS OF PADRE PIO

This years is, as many will know, the Anniversary of the Stigmata of Saint Pio of Petrelcina, "Padre Pio". Let us pray especially this month, at a time of revelation many dreadful wounds in the Church, that St Pio will strengthen the Church and Her bishops to lead their flocks faithfully, and to bring them to the clarity of revealed Truth in purity and faith.

The relics are visiting London, and may be venerated next Thursday evening, 20th September, at 6.30pm at a Sung Mass at the Church of Corpus Christi Maiden Lane, the newly-erected diocesan shrine of the Blessed Sacrament.

The preacher will be our dear friend Father Stephen Morrison, OPraem. from Chelmsford Priory.

Please ask any of your friends, all are welcome.  See notice below.

WAKE UP THE WORLD!

We are grateful to Father Nicholas Edmonds-Smith for his very timely Recollection on the religious life, and the correct religious response to the troubles engulfing the Church and the world, very apposite in these days of dreadful scandals against chastity, in which the Devil might seem to have gained the upper hand. Not so. The text was delivered on 25th August at Farnborough Abbey.

I would like to thank the brethren of the Grand Priory for the kind invitation to be  with you this morning. It is a great honour and privilege and I hope that something of what I have to say today might provide some food for thought, recollection and prayer for you. I must confess to knowing something about the great work of the Order of Maltathroughout the world, and of course, especially the work of the Companions in Oxford, but to knowing very little about the spirituality of the Order - so this day of recollection was also an opportunity for me to learn a little more. I must also confess to being a canonist and not a theologian, nor knowing much about spirituality, so apologies if I start to sound like I spend my time with my head in a book or reading case files or Vatican documents! 

This is not a happy time for priests and religious in the Church. The most recent reports of child abuse by clerics and consecrated persons, and the disturbing revelations of episcopal and institutional failure, are the cause of great pain to the whole Church. Just two days ago, some Daughters of Charity - in their seventies and eighties - were arrested in Scotland on charges of terrible historical abuse at a children’s home. Our hearts go out to all those whose lives have been ruined by so-called men and women of God. As our Holy Father put it, St Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “when one member suffers, we all suffer together,  must echo in our hearts as we reflect on this tragedy and how we, each of us and together, can help to bring about the renewed conversion, the turning back to the Lord, that God’s  People must undertake as an urgency.   

The reports will keep coming, as more and more horrible stories emerge of sexual and  physical abuse, and the abuse of power, in the Church. There have been calls for the  suppression of this congregation or that order. It is difficult to see what some religious  houses or even dioceses can possibly do to recover. One article I read even called for the end of all religious orders, saying that they are too much the problem ever to be part of  the Church’s future.   

And, for very different reasons, one also hears of calls within your own Order to sideline, and diminish the role of, the religious brethren, those Knights who are consecrated to God  and to his Church in the most solemn way.   

So today I thought it was worth reflecting on the consecrated life, reflecting on its vital,  essential place - its place in the heart of the church - and its place within the Order of Malta. In that reflection, one hopes to point out the fundamental and central role that  consecrated religious have in the great work of the renewal of the Church: essentially, why  we need religious today more than ever.   

IN ALL CHARITY – LEARN TO HATE!

We are truly seeing a crisis in the Church, a crisis of Faith, a crisis of discipline; a blurring, to the point of invisibility, of the distinction between Good and Evil.

Only by hating Sin can we overcome it, only by hating the Devil can we resist him. This hatred must be real, as strong and gripping as the keenest love we have ever felt.

The great Bishop Morlino of Madison sums it up in his wonderful letter to his diocese issued last week, reminding us of the Thomist reflection of Christ’s teaching in the Gospel, he writes:

If you’ll permit me, what the Church needs now is more hatred! As I have said previously, St. Thomas Aquinas said that hatred of wickedness actually belongs to the virtue of charity. As the Book of Proverbs says “My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness (Prov. 8:7).” It is an act of love to hate sin and to call others to turn away from sin.

(please read his full letter HERE) 

Our noble Order has for centuries fought the enemies of the Church.  The enemies of the Church are the enemies of Truth, the enemies of Christ. They hate us, and we hate their error. Whether they be Turks, sworn to wipe the Church out of the Mediterranean; or Protestants, who eviscerated our martyrs in the name of a corrupted religion; or the humanitarian disasters we have battled in the last two centuries, Knights of Malta stood firm, and at great personal sacrifice, often to death, fought for Christ’s Truth. No matter that today the enemy is within the Church, our steadfastness is expected of us just the same. There is no comfortable ride.

One cannot fight in battle without knowing the enemy – the pressures of society to turn an ever growing list of sins into virtues can cut no ice with us if we are to win. We must come to "hate the Devil and all his works", these are not empty words we rehearse once a year at Easter.  They are how we save our own souls and the souls of those around us. It is the Devil who guides those who perpetrate evil, be they cardinals, bishops, priests or laymen, and only by hating the sin which grips them, which holds them in stranglehold so they can no longer see their own souls in the image and likeness of God, can we love them enough to pray for the redemption of their souls. Without your prayers these men will go to Hell.

Let it be clear, whatever worldly punishment they deserve, and justly, it is the salvation of their souls we must desire and fight for, and we shall not achieve this by turning a blind eye, or finding some condoning excuse for their depravity, or some administrative damage-limitation procedure.

Every day we have this duty to fight, as more and more people fall away from the Church, through indifference, through the influence of bad men, through corruption of sin; this remnant, those of us who are left must man the defences and carry on the spiritual battle. Many times the garrison in Rhodes and Malta was reduced to a few dozen knights, and yet they won victory after victory, and always with Our Lady’s unfailing help.

Make no mistake, there are no sins lesser than others, every departure from the Truth, on the smallest matter, opens the soul to further attack which it cannot resist. There is a state of grace, or a state of separation from God, there is no middle ground which is ‘just about ok”.

Blessed James Bell, ordained priest under Queen Mary, who had apostatised under Elizabeth, only to be reconciled and martyred in old age, said to the judge when condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered, "I beseech you, my Lord, for the love of God, add also to your former sentence that my lips be pared and my fingers cut off, wherewith I have hithertofore sworn and subscribed to heretical articles, both against my conscience and the truth.'' That is how one should hate sin: with no thought of self.

One hundred years ago last Sunday Our Lady said to the children of Fatima, with an air of great sadness, “Pray, pray hard and make sacrifices for sinners, because many souls will go to Hell because they have no one who will make sacrifices and pray for them.”

Let us, Knights, Dames and Companions of Malta, be those champions of injured souls. Fast, pray, confess, and set a lead by exemplary lives.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for the Church.

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for our Order.

Our Lady Queen of the Clergy, pray for our Priests.

THIS CROSS IS WHITE AS SYMBOL OF PURITY...

... WEAR IT OVER YOUR HEART WITH COURAGE!

All of us who are Knights and Dames have sworn to these words. Companions have heard them year after year on Saint John's Day. Live them!

It is the Summer, and the News is always full of much silliness. In our charism of Tuitio Fidei, it is duty of all members of the Order to present the Truth of the Faith when, as must often happen, we are asked, or presented with a particular degree of silliness by our acquaintances.

This week has a particular brand of silliness not far from the long history of our Order. Judicious thought and moderation might often seem to be in short supply on both sides of these arguments.  That is part of Tuitio Fidei for us to supply. Opportunities are not lacking. Challenge for the week!

It is not the place of this blog to enter into polemic or discussion, our role is simply to encourage Friends, Companions and Members of the Order to seek the Truth, and avoid falsehood, and to serve Our Lord and Saviour in the Sick and the Poor.

The Truth remains, nevertheless, an objective fact, however unpalatable today, and clouding it with false comparisons and politically-motivated relativism is not helpful.

We might therefore fruitfully direct your attention to a short blog post by a very sensible writer,  Dr Geoffrey Kirk, which demonstrates good perspective, serves the Truth, and which might assist us to do our duty. HERE.

Charity in all things, and fight for the Truth of Christ's Kingdom in a darkened age. As we have all turned to our Mothers in times of trouble, it would not hurt to ask the female saints of Our Order, who have overseen our struggles for many generations, to guide us, the world, the Church and Her enemies with their prayers at this time, as also for those women being used in other people's battles.

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us!

Saint Flora of Beaulieu, pray for us!

Saint Ubaldecsa, pray for us!

Saint Toscana, pray for us!

IT WILL SNOW TOMORROW...

In the baking heat of Summer (aways hot in the Mediterranean, but this year even Britain is getting a taste of it!) Holy Mother Church in Her wisdom and charity offers us joyful Marian feasts to break the stifling monotony of the long season after Pentecost.  Later this month is the glorious feast of the Assumption, which the Order in Britain will this years celebrate at the International Holiday Camp near Arundel, with Mass in the cathedral on the day.

Tomorrow, were it not Sunday, would be the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows. On this hot August day Our Lady made snow fall in Rome on the site She had chosen for a church to be built in Her honour, the oldest Marian church in Christendom – Saint Mary Major, or Our Lady of the Snows.  By custom on this day rose-petals fall from the roof of the Basilica at the Mass, in honour of the mystical snowfall.

In jolly liturgical days in our Own Priory of England, Mass on this day was celebrated in the Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem in St John's Wood, by the late John Canon McDonald. The fall of the petals not quite as had been intended, but the general effect was charming!

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Canon McDonald, and for the Hospital of Saint John and Saint Elizabeth, for the patients and staff, as well as for the board of directors. May they serve God amongst the sick and the dying.

Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us

St John the Baptist, pray for us

Saint Elizabeth, pray for us

TODAY - PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE

Today is the day upon which every year we may gain the Portiuncula Indulgence, from the afternoon on the 1st August to sunset on the 2nd.  This plenary indulgence may only be applied to the Souls in Purgatory, by the act of visiting a church following Confession and receiving Holy Communion. It is thus one of the greatest Acts of Charity we can perform, to release a soul from Purgatory. Why would one not do this?

The Indulgence was granted miraculously to Saint Francis on a night of great temptation, in which he is said to have rolled as mortification in a briar-bush which became a bush of sweet thornless roses.  Originally it required a visit to the cell where he died, now in the basilica at Portiuncula (see photo above) about a mile from Assisi, but by successive Popes, in their great mercy, has been granted more and more liberally until today any church may be visited to gain this indulgence. (This privilege has been finally established for an indefinite time by a decree of the S. Cong. of Indul., 26 March, 1911 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, III, 1911, 233-4), and reformed and confirmed by Pope Paul VI in "Indulgentiarum Doctrina" (1967). This Apostolic Constitution established that a Plenary Indulgence may be gained only once a day.)

The obligations are the usual ones of Confession and Holy Communion, ideally on the day, and recitation of the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, and prayer for the Holy Father's intentions, carried out with the will to gain the indulgence, and a detachment from sin. That is all. The indulgence may be gained on each of the two days, thus twice, assisting two souls.

Please make the effort to do this wonderful charitable work today!

For more information see HERE.

VICTORY OVER THE TURKS — 1480AD

On this day in 1659, the feast of S Pantaleon, was achieved a great victory over the naval forces of the Turks by Cardinal Grand Master Pierre d'Ambusson. The day is traditionally commemorated in the Order as a first class Feast, with the following prayers added to the Mass.

DIE XXVII JULII.

Festum duplex Iæ. Classis

OB INSIGNEM VICTORIAM PER

EMIN. DOMINUM PETRUM D’AMBUSSON

Cardinalem &c. Magnum Magistrum Rhodiorum : contra Turcas obtentam. 

As quod Officium Innocentius Octavus Pont. 

ORATIO

Deus in te sperántium fortitudo, adesto precibus nostris : quas tibi cum gratiarum offerimus actione : pro Victoria Magistro nostro, ac ejus exercitui, contra hostes Fidei Christanæ Turcos, per te mitabiliter Rhodi concessa : supliciter deprecantes: ut solitá tuæ pietatis clementiá muniti, dextráque tuæ potentiæ defensi : ab hostium infidiis, omníque adversitate protegámur.  Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

SECRETA

Hostias tibi Domine placationis et laudis offerimus, suppliciter exorantes : ut qui nos de Fidei tuæ hostibus triumphare fecisti : clementer ab inimicorum infidiis, et omni periculo salves et munias.  Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Filium tuum. Qui vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

POSTCOMMUNIO

Sumptis redemptionis nostræ muneribus, quæsumus Omnipotens Deus : eorum celebratione tuæ protectionis auxilium : et famuli tui N. Hospitalis Hiersolomitani Magistrum, cum suo Exercitu, gratias de Triumphis Turcarum hostium fidei, nomini tuo sancto referentem : ab omni inimicorum incursu, cunctisque adversitatibus liberes semper et protegas.  Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

Ex Officia Propria Sanctorum Ordinis S. Joannis Hierosolimitani Melitensis in usum Domus Coloniensis SS. Joannis et Cordulæ.  Typis Antonii Metternich MDCLIX.

For those who wish to add the commemoration to the recitation of the daily Office, the antiphons of  the Common Confessoris non Pontifex may be used, the commemoration being only at Lauds.

AD BENED. ANT. Euge, serve bone * et fidelis, quia in pauca fuisti fidelis, supra multum te constituam, intra in gaudium Domini tui.

V. Iustum deduxit Dominus per vias rectas.

R. Et ostendit illi regnum Dei.

ORATIO

Deus in te sperántium fortitudo, adesto precibus nostris : quas tibi cum gratiarum offerimus actione : pro Victoria Magistro nostro, ac ejus exercitui, contra hostes Fidei Christanæ Turcos, per te mitabiliter Rhodi concessa : supliciter deprecantes: ut solitá tuæ pietatis clementiá muniti, dextráque tuæ potentiæ defensi : ab hostium infidiis, omníque adversitate protegámur.  Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

TRUTH AND THE LAW - HOMILY FOR BL DAVID GUNSON

How apt are the words, in the light of the posts with which this blog has recently been concerned, preached by Father Edmund Montgomery on the Feast of our glorious martyr Blessed David Gunson.  Fr Montgomery highlights for us the contradiction between the Laws of Parliament, which bring death, and continue to do so in our own time, and the Law of Truth, which leads us to everlasting life.

We are grateful to him for journeying to London to say Mass for us on the vigil of the Feast, 12th July, and for his inspiring words, which are reproduced below.  Fr Montgomery is Administrator of Shrewsbury Cathedral, and a Magistral Chaplain of our Order.

HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF BLESSED DAVID GUNSON

Precious Blood Borough, Wednesday 11 July 2018

I entered seminary in 2005, some thirteen years ago. Before I studied Law and I loved it! I had grown up a studious child, in my large family, often escaping from my siblings to enjoying reading history, politics, the constitution, heraldry. It was a good preparation for the Law!

I remember my first lecture of Public Law which covered our constitution: the Crown, Parliament - the Lords and Commons, the judiciary, how a law is made and so on. I distinctly remember our lecturer impressing on us the foundation of the British Constitution: ‘There is no law that Parliament may not make.’

This evening, as we honour the sacrifice Blessed David Gunson I want to reflect on how Parliament has been the cause of so much of our past hurts and invariably the cause of our stormy present. Let us review some of the Acts of Parliament which brought our forebears such suffering: In 1531 an Act of Parliament gave Henry Tudor the title of ‘Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England’; an Act of Parliament suppressed our Order in England in 1540; in 1541 an Act of Parliament attained Blessed David Gunson with treason; when our last Catholic king, James II, sought to grant toleration, an Act of Parliament deposed him and Parliament invited his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange to invade and usurp King James’ Crown; when Queen Anne died without issue in 1714, Parliament had already ensured a Protestant succession by the Act of Settlement, absolutely excluding Catholics or those married to Catholics from inheriting the Throne.

A tyrannical monarch is an easier narrative, but what this realm has long suffered from is tyrannical Parliaments. Our monarchs know their limits, their constitutional role: to be consulted, to encourage and to warn. Parliament knows no limit to its authority. We can call to mind of Acts of Parliament in our own time which have subverted the Law of God and continue the work of the destruction begun under the Tudors: in 1967, an Act of Parliament opened the door to eight million abortions; the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990 that permitted the beginning of in vitro fertilisation; in 2014, an Act of Parliament redefined marriage to enable same-sex unions.

Our constitution is founded on the principle that there is no law that Parliament may not make. We reply: No. Parliament may not make any laws contrary to the natural law, contrary the law of God, or any contrary to human reason. So much of our suffering over the centuries has been due to a Parliament that knows no limit to its power, a Parliament that may legislate and has legislated contrary to the natural law, contrary to the law of God, contrary to human reason.

CONTRAST AND PRAY

The last 24 hours have brought two bits of news.

FIRSTLY this article in the Evening Standard, reporting apparent public 'outrage' at a pro-Life stall at a fair in South London. Indeed in the same park where a week earlier Members and Companions of our Order and been celebrating the Martyrdom of Blessed David Gunson, who was hanged drawn and quartered there, at St Thomas Waterings, now Burgess Park, in July 1541.  Clearly the spirit of his executioners is alive and well! Both hate the Church.

It might have been thought that small children liked playing with dolls, yet it would seem that dolls of babies from the day of birth are fine, but dolls of the same babies from the days and weeks before are not. Thank goodness the article describes them correctly as dolls of "unborn babies", and not with some pseudo-medical euphemism! 

SECONDLY this report in Aleteia that the very same image, of an unborn baby curled up in his mother's womb, which has been placed upon the 25 Kuna coin of Croatia. (H/T Fr.Z, here). Legal tender for all to see, carry and use.

What does this tell us about the formation of the population of these two countries, as members of families, as members of society, as members of the human race? 

Pray for Britain, and for all of Western Europe, so confused and drifting in a sea of ignorance and insanity. Pray for the Church, that She may guide us though the dark waters. Pray for our bishops, that they will have the strength to carry out the responsibility which is theirs to teach, in an age which is changing faster than they sometime can follow.

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us and for families

St John the Baptist, pray for us and for families

Bl David Gunson, pray for us and for families

Holy Michael, the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust down to hell Satan and all the wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

FIGHT THE SCOURGE OF ABORTION

You help, financial help, is asked for a fund to fight the criminalisation of prayer vigils and support outside Abortion Clinics.

See link HERE to DONATE.

Ealing Council has made it a criminal offence to offer help to women outside of the Marie Stopes Abortion Centre on Mattock Lane. 

The council has put in place a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) that prevents “engaging in any act of approval/disapproval” by “any means” – specifically including prayer and counselling. 

Please help!

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for all mothers and children.

St John the Baptist, pray for all marriages.

Blessed Gerard, pray for all the weak and poor.

DEFENDING THE FAITH - HUMANAE VITAE AT 50

Blessed Paul VI may have smelled the smoke of Satan in the Church, but dressed in
both the fur mozzetta and the cloak clearly also felt the chill of a Godless world.

Our Order is committed to the work of Tuitio Fidei, defending the Faith we have received from our Fathers in the modern world. We are committed to uphold the Faith and to defend the Magisterium and the deposit of Faith protected by Our Holy Father Pope Francis.

In our time the Faith is attacked on numerous levels, the sanctity of Marriage between man and woman, sexual morality and the rise of pornography, and worse of all, as it underlines all the other evils, the attacks upon the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrifice of the Mass.  Even in the Church there are calls, even from cardinals, particularly in some European countries, sowing confusion and dissent, bringing scandal to the laity, and blurring the distinction between right and wrong - calls for communion for those in adulterous and bigamous relationships (so-called 'second marriage'); calls for Holy Communion for mixed marriages, to give the sacred species to those who have not demonstrated a clear understanding of the sacraments nor expressed a desire to be in a perfect state of grace; calls for the blessing of unnatural unions, homosexual 'couples'; calls for a female clergy against the teaching of Christ, confirmed again in our time by Saint John-Paul II; and latterly, as this 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae approaches, calls for a softening of the Church's perennial teaching on sexual morality and the sanctity of life - contraception and abortion. 

For these very things our holy Patron Saint John the Baptist, whose Birth we celebrate today, was beheaded - the Church's first champion and patron saint of Holy Christian marriage and of chastity.

So we can be proud in Britain of these 500 clergy of our lands who have signed a letter defending the Church's teaching as expressed magisterially by Blessed Pope Paul VI in his Encyclical, but also in our beloved Order take it as a challenge to us personally to join the fight.

A good report in the Catholic Herald, giving the signatories, may be read HERE.  The full text is given below.

We may be proud too that nearly all the Chaplains of our Order have added their signatures.  But it is for us the laity to defend the Faith, not to rely upon the priests : their role is to teach us, not to fight beside us, any more now than in the galleys of our forebears.  So, let us take up our weapons - our hearts and our rosaries, but also our brains and our voices, and make the Church's teaching known in our world and our workplace.

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Blessed Paul VI, pray for us.

Text of the Letter of the British Clergy

In 1968 Pope Paul VI issued a re-affirmation of central aspects of the Church’s traditional teaching on human sexuality. The encyclical Humanae Vitae affirmed, in harmony with the Church’s traditional teaching, the purity and beauty of the spousal act, always open to procreation and always unitive.

Humanae Vitae predicted that if artificial contraception became widespread and commonly accepted by society then we would lose our proper understanding of marriage, the family, the dignity of the child and of women and even a proper appreciation of our bodies and the gift of male and female. The Holy Father warned that governments would begin to utilise coercive methods to control what is most private and intimate.

At the time of the publication of Humanae Vitae many rejected its message and its warnings. Many found the teaching that the use of contraception was in all cases ‘absolutely excluded’ and ‘intrinsically wrong’ difficult to accept and challenging to proclaim. Fifty years later so much has unfolded in our society that has been to the detriment of human life and love. Many have come to appreciate again the wisdom of the Church’s teaching.

As priests we desire to affirm on this 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae the noble vision of procreative love as the Catholic Church has always taught and understood it. We believe a proper ‘human ecology’, a rediscovery of the way of nature and respect for human dignity is essential for the future of our people, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. We propose discovering anew the message of Humanae Vitae, not only in fidelity to the Gospel, but as a key to the healing and true development of our society.

FURTHER UPDATE - ROSARY on the COAST

ROSARY on the COAST  – SUNDAY 29th APRIL at 3pm

The Rosary will be led by the GRAND PRIORY OF ENGLAND on the Thames Estuary, between Leigh-on-Sea and Southend, which is officially the nearest North Sea coast to London!

The Arrangements for Sunday are as follow : MEET AT THE PETERBOAT Public House, on the Seafront in Old Leigh, 27 High St, Leigh-on-Sea SS9 2EN, from 12.30. It's a good place. Be there definitely by 2.30, as we may move off after that.   MAP, CLICK HERE

SMOM FACEBOOK Event HERE.  Not essential to sign up, obviously, but helps us assess numbers.

Depending on numbers we shall either join with the local parishes, including our dear friend Monsignor Kevin Canon Hale, the local Parish Priest, or lead the Holy Rosary independently.

TRAINS OUT OF FENCHURCH STREET (fast to Leigh-on-Sea) :
09.55 - arr10.55, 10.25 - arr11.25, 10.55 - arr11.55, 11.25 - arr12.25, 11.55 -arr12.55, 1225 - arr13.25, 12.55 - arr13.55, 1325 - arr14.25
From the Station to the Peterboat is pleasant walk of about 1/4 hour behind the cockleshells.

MASS TIMES at Leigh-on-Sea (shorter walk if you take the train to Chalkwell, the next station, 5 minutes longer train journey) :
8am, 9.30, 11.30.
Parish website (for directions etc) HERE

More general information may be had from the Rosary organisers' website, HERE, where those of you who are unable to join the Malta London group can join other groups or set up your own.  There is an interactive map showing where the Rosary is happening. There are lots! We would, however, ask that wherever you go, you do so visibly as a Member or Companion of the Order of Malta, or OMV. Our common witness is important; this is Tuitio Fidei.

PLEASE TELL FRIENDS ABOUT THIS AND BRING THEM ALONG.

See previous posts HERE

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us

FIRST MASS AT SAINT MARGARET'S CHAPEL, EDINBURGH

His Grace the Archbishop of Edinburgh has most generously placed for the benefit of the Order in Scotland the beautiful chapel of Saint Margaret, in the Gillis Centre, the seat of the Diocesan curial offices. The Chapel is just beyond the Meadows to the South of the City, in Morningside, an easy journey, even a walk, from the City centre.

The handsome chapel, with a romanesque nave, was designed by the Scottish architect James Gillespie Graham, with input from his then associate Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. It was opened in 1835, and the gothic chancel added by Archibald McPherson in 1893. Ancestors of present members of the Order, including Lord Ralph Kerr and Robert Monteith of Carstairs, had links with the Chapel. It houses the relics of Saint Crescentia, believed to have been a young Roman girl martyred for her faith, which were donated by Pope Gregory XVI. The Reliquary in which they are preserved was designed by Pugin.

Masses will be organised by the Order in Scotland on a regular basis.  The first took place on the evening before the Edinburgh Ball, Friday, 13th April, the feast of Pope S Martin I.

The Mass was celebrated by Father Scott Deeley, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, beautifully served by Companions, in the presence of Fra' Ian Scott, Grand Prior.   Father Deeley will be joining the Order on Saint John's Day this year.  Liam Devlin played the organ, and was responsible for the excellent music. The suitably grand recessional was Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary.

The Mass was followed by a wonderfully organised reception in the Library, under the able direction of Mrs Mark Hamid. Many members of the Order, Companions and friends were present, including a very young member, whose family had travelled from Wick. The photograph shows her receiving a medal from Peter McCann, at the reception which followed in the Library. The photographs were very kindly taken by Scottish Companion Uilliam ÓhAicéad.

A convivial Dinner followed, attended by Monsignor Burke, who had regrettably been prevented from arriving in time for the Mass.

It is to be hoped that members will continue to support these Scottish Masses in ever growing numbers.

REMINDER - APPEAL!!! DONATE FOR CANDELABRA FOR THE BLESSED SACRAMENT!

U P D A T E!

We are re-posting below this Appeal, with sincere thanks to those Readers who have already contributed so generously.  The Appeal has still a little way to go to reach its target, and we ask you again to be generous.  Fr.Z's blog was very successful in raising £5,000 for a Blessed Sacrament canopy for this same church of Corpus Christi, so let no-one say that our Readers are less willing to share in honour of the Blessed Sacrament!

Come on! Do it NOW!

The Church of CORPUS CHRISTI, MAIDEN LANE, near Covent Garden in London, the first church in England to be dedicated after the Restoration of the Hierarchy to the Mystery of Corpus Christi, has for the past few years been undergoing a comprehensive restoration, and is to be formally opened by His Eminence Vincent Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, on the Feast of Corpus Christi this year, Sunday 3rd June.

The Church will become a centre for adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament in the Diocese.

The Parish is seeking contributions of funds toward the purchase of a pair of English Gothic candelabra, which have come from a Catholic church, and bear the symbols of the Holy Family, Jesus Mary and Joseph, on enamel shields. It is hoped that members of the Order of Malta and Companions and Friends will contribute generously; part of our charism as an Order is the promotion of excellence in the Sacred Liturgy, as a part of our work of Tuitio Fidei, and this is a very good practical way of doing it.

They would stand either side of the High Altar and would be used for the Feast of Corpus Christi and particularly for the annual 40 Hours Devotion which is to be restored at the desire of His Eminence the Cardinal.

For those wishing to make further Lenten almsgiving, here is a good opportunity!

The Candelabra cost £6,000. Donations may be made on the Parish's special Candelabra Donations page HERE.

Those readers with blogs, Twitter or Facebook pages etc, are encouraged to disseminate this notice as widely as possible.

Should you wish to give more to the wonderful work at Corpus Christi, general donations to the Restoration Fund may be made HERE.

Benefactors are recorded in the Benefactors’ Book and are remembered at the Altar in a specific Benefactors’ Mass each month.

For those wishing to participate spiritually in the work of the Church of Corpus Christi, you may join the SODALITY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT, visit the website HERE. 

Adoremus in aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum!

FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Monday of Low Week is the transferred feast of the Annunciation, which fell on Palm Sunday, and thus could not be celebrated then.  Happy Feast to all our readers.

"The angel Gabriel descended in the midst of a heavenly light. The light enveloped the Virgin, and the angel was vested in a garment so bright that I can not compare him on earth. 

"When she saw the light with her own eyes, she got up and was seized with fear. Looking at the angel, she found on his face the reflection of her chastity. She was standing, in an attitude of modesty, listening, all her senses attending. 

"Then the angel greeted her and annouced to her the will of God; His words pleased the heart of the Virgin, filled her senses and set her soul on fire; however, her virginal modesty and love for God prompted her to ask for an explanation. 

"When she was instructed, she opened her heart with all good will, then knelt down and said: "I am the servant of God, that your words are fulfilled. Then the whole Trinity with the power of the Divinity, the good will of Humanity, and the nobility of the Holy Spirit penetrated his whole virginal body."

Blessed Mechtilde of Magdeburg (†1282)

The Angel of the Lord announced unto Mary !

And She conceived by the Holy Ghost !

The image shows the Annunciation by Caravaggio.

Readers may wish to revisit Fr Stephen Morrison's talk on this Mystery at the Annunciation Day Recollection last year, HERE.

EASTER GREETING FROM THE GRAND PRIOR

Dear Friends,

I write to you from Rome, where I have assisted over the last three days at the solemn ceremonies of the Easter Triduum, as I am sure many of you have all over the world. You have been in my prayers before the altar throughout these days.

In this age it is easy to lose sight of the fact that our Salvation is already assured by Christ's Sacrifice on Calvary and Resurrection. So many troubles beset us on every side. This is no less true of our own beloved Order of Malta.

But these holy days show us that the Battle is won — Hell’s armies flee. I am grateful to our Chaplain for his insightful mediations which we have been privileged to read during Holy Week. All we need to do is to keep the Faith, and we are thereby collaborating with the Risen Christ in our own Salvation. But we are also collaborating in the Salvation of our fellow men, because we are all brothers within the Church which He founded on Maundy Thursday, and which he entrusted from the Cross to the maternal care of Mary, Mother of the Church - "Son, behold thy Mother". 

Let us ask Her prayers, the prayers of Our Lady of Philermo, that all of us in the Order of Malta, and all of you who pray together and work for the Poor within our great Order family, may never waver from the path we have been shown over these last few days.

A very Happy Easter to you all.

Fra' Ian Scott

Grand Prior

The picture above shows the Resurrection, by a follower of Caravaggio, around 1600, possibly Francesco Boneri, knows as 'Cecco del Caravaggio'. It is housed in the Art Institute of Chicago.