aeternus

A prayer for the Year of the Priest as proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI as he encourages “striving for spiritual perfection”.

Dear Lord,

we pray that the Blessed Mother
wrap her mantle around your priests
and through her intercession
strengthen them for their ministry.
We pray that Mary will guide your priests
to follow her own words,
“Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).
May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph,
Mary’s most chaste spouse.
May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart
inspire them to embrace
all who suffer at the foot of the cross.
May your priests be holy,
filled with the fire of your love
seeking nothing but your greater glory
and the salvation of souls.

Amen.

Saint John Vianney, pray for us.

** You can purchase Holy Cards through the Knights of Columbus.

** Icon by Iconographer Marek Czarnecki of Seraphic Restorations.

It is that special 9 days which comes every June.  It is the annual novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Pink Sisters.  It usually ends on the feast of the Sacred Heart but this year it started on that day.  It fills my heart to be there every night.  The Holy Spirit is absolutely tangible in that beautiful chapel!!

Here is a short prayer/quote for the day  to share.

“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the word and the spirit of grace.”

“And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of ALL! Amen.”

– Prayer Motto of St. Arnold Janssen

Saint Arnold Janssen had a profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which is no doubt why the Pink Sister’s (whom he founded) have a most special Novena to the Sacred Heart each year at their Monastery at Mount Grace.  The service of these beautiful nuns is a mission to maintain an uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, praying day and night for the church and especially for the other two active missionary congregations.

I found the most wonderful book to help ready the soul for the feast of the Sacred Heart.  It is called the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, Readings for the month of June.  I will include the reading for today below.  First though, is a clip from the introduction of the book and a prayer to the Sacred Heart from Saint Gertrude.

“THE month of June contains two feasts which appeal in a special manner to all devout souls. They are the feasts of Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart. One is the complement of the other…the two feasts seem to breathe the same spirit.”

“The Sacred Heart and the Eucharist can never be disassociated. Devotion toward the one increases love for the other. These pious thoughts will help souls to know the Heart of Our Saviour better and, consequently, will foster love for the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ residing in the Most Blessed Sacrament.”  - J. CARDINAL GIBBONS, Archbishop of Baltimore.

THE PRAYER OF ST. GERTRUDE TO THE SACRED HEART.

Hail, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, living and quickening source of eternal life, infinite treasury of the Divinity, burning furnace of divine love! Thou art my refuge and my sanctuary. O my amiable Saviour, consume my heart with that burning fire with which Thine is ever inflamed! Pour down on my soul those graces that flow from Thy love, and let my heart be so united to Thine that our wills may be one, and mine in all things conformed to Thine. May Thine be the standard and rule of my desires and actions! Amen.

Meditation for June 19^th.

OBEDIENCE, THE GLORIOUS HOMAGE OF THE EUCHARISTIC HEART. ADORATION.

“THE Son of God, obedience personified: “lived only to love, to cultivate, and to satisfy the demands of obedience. During the thirty years of humble labor at Nazareth, He was subject to them. During the three years of His apostolate, His bread that which He loved above everything else and upon which He lived, was to accomplish the will of God who sent Him.  During His Passion, on the terrible eve of that most agonizing last day of His life, to which He gave Himself up to testify to the world with what love He would fulfill the Father’s commands, He clung to obedience:”That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I. Arise, let us go hence!”

Lastly, to perpetuate here below under the humiliating yoke of human masters and in conditions of dependence and abasement which surpass all that He endured during His mortal life, to perpetuate an obedience which in heaven is all glory and felicity, He delivered Himself to His Apostles and gave to every priest full power over His Body and Blood by binding Himself in the fetters of the sacramental state. Every day of the world, even to the very last, shall we see this almighty God, this King of the nations, crowned with glory, “obeying the voice of a man,” laboring and suffering for the good of a redeemed people.

Is obedience, then, so great, so noble, so beautiful as to have power to allure, to conquer, to captivate the Son of God to such a degree? Ah! it is to God the most glorious homage that He can receive from His creatures. It is the homage of their intelligent will, the spiritual sacrifice of their immortal soul, the free gift of their meritorious life, offered by love to His good pleasure: It is for man true sanctity and consummate perfection:  “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is all man”.  Beholding Jesus Christ rendering obedience to all priests whether good or bad says Blessed Margaret Mary,” and placing Himself in their hands to die mystically, concealing Himself in the Host that, with out showing any resistance, He may be immolated and sacrificed according to their designs, I am prompt at the call of obedience. Like a host of immolation, I place myself in the hands of my superiors for whatever they may command that, dying to my own will, to my passions, inclinations, and aversions, they may dispose of me as they please without my allowing the repugnance I may feel to appear. “And the violence I shall have to do myself will be to honor that which Jesus does Himself on entering souls sullied by sin. He has such horror for these souls that every time He enters them, He there renews the mortal agony of the Garden of Olives.

THANKSGIVING.

At the moment in which He offered Himself freely to suffer for the crimes of all and to assume their burden, He recalled the Father s promise: “If He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed  Of His sufferings and His obedience, mingled with His Blood, He formed remedies to cure us of the evil of independence and all the disorders it brings with it.

By His bruises we are healed.”In His obedience, He multiplied the most perfect acts, examples the most sublime of all the virtues, in order to induce us to imitate them and to teach us obedience sanctified and perfect: Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps.  Lastly, in this rude school of obedience, and tried by all kinds of sorrows, He formed for Himself a Heart of infinite compassion to bear with all our difficulties, struggles, and even falls, in the fulfillment of the perpetual and universal duty of obedience, which is the very foundation of man s life here below: “He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And now, become by His sacramental state obedience consummated, mercifully continuing before our eyes the lessons of the humblest, the meekest, the most heroic, and the most persevering obedience, He gives Himself as the food, the strength, the consolation, and the pledge of infinite reward to all who, in order to reign with Him, bind themselves to Him till death in the bonds of Christian charity: “And being consummated, He became to all that obey Him, the cause of eternal salvation”.

Once when Blessed Margaret Mary had some difficulty in submitting to obedience, the Divine Master let her see His sacred Body covered with the wounds that He had received for her love. He reproached her with ingratitude and with tepidity in over coming herself for love of Him. “What dost Thou will me to do, O My God,”she asked, “since my will is stronger than I?” Jesus told her that, if she would place it in the wound of His Sacred Side, she would have no trouble in surmounting self. “O my Saviour,”she exclaimed, “do Thou place it therein so deeply and shut it up so securely that it can never come out!”  She tells us that from that moment everything appeared to her so easy that she never again had any difficulty in overcoming herself.

REPARATION

Man, alas! disdains to receive from the Most High the light to guide him in his way. He pretends to have, like God Him self, the knowledge of good and evil ; there fore choosing death by despising the divine commandment, he is condemned to darkness and torture for time and eternity. It is just that, refusing to obey God willingly, he should be chained in spite of himself under the murderous yoke of the leader of all revolts. It is just that, not having wished to accomplish the noble commands of the Lord and of His Church, he should be obliged to submit to the cruel and ignominious caprices of the demons and to the reprobate. The confession they are then obliged to make, can do them no good: “For we have not obeyed Thy commandments, therefore are we delivered to spoil and to captivity and to death, and are made a fable and a reproach to all nations! It is true that every disobedience is not opposed to the absolute will of the Creator, and does not carry with it a total revolt of the human will. A great number of these acts of disobedience regard things not imposed upon us as necessary. Respecting the substance of the precepts, some souls violate only the accidental circumstances; others only half comprehend or half will. These are slight disobediences, partial or venial. God punishes them with temporal pains during life or after, in order to pardon them in the end. But whatever they be, they displease His Heart. If He at once casts the gravely disobedient into the abyss of death, He declares His Heart turned away from those tepid souls that disobey in all things. He threatens to “vomit them out of His mouth”.  Let us seriously examine ourselves upon this capital point of the Christian life. Let us remember that the most deeply rooted inclination of fallen nature, the most impetuous, the most difficult to destroy or even to repress, is the passion of independence, of resistance to authority, and tendency to disobedience. Let us listen to the severe admonitions on this subject given by the Sacred Heart to the most intimate confidante of Its thoughts, Blessed Margaret Mary: “My Divine Master having ordered me to rise every night between Thursday and Friday, in order to recite five Pater and Ave prostrate on the ground, I replied to Him: My Lord, Thou knowest that I am not my own, and that I shall do what my superioress orders me. I do not intend it otherwise,” replied my Lord; “for, all powerful as I am, I desire nothing from thee but in dependence on thy superioress.  Hearken to these words from the mouth of Truth: All religious disunited and separated from their superiors, must be looked upon as vessels of reprobation, in whom ah good liquors are changed into corruption, and upon whom the Divine Sun of Justice darting His rays, produces the same effect as the sun shining upon mire. Such souls are so utterly rejected by My Heart that, the more they try to approach Me by the Sacraments, prayer, and other exercises, the more I withdraw from them in horror. They will fall from one hell to another, for it is this disunion that has lost so many, and that will lose so many more. Since every superior holds My place, be he good or bad, the inferior who injures him wounds his own soul in the same measure. It is vain for him after so doing to weep at the door of My mercy.  He shall not be heard”

PETITION.

Lastly, humility, that perfect form of the religious fear of God, will bow our neck under the yoke of obedience, will bend our will to that of superiors, so that we shall even prefer the non-success of obedience to the success of revolt. Like the proud, alas! have in our excitement and eagerness, preferred the present and deceitful satisfactions of disobedience. Lacking humility, we have not sought the conscientious and lasting observance of the divine commandments: “Fear God and keep His commandments.” Therefore it is that, wishing to propose the yoke of His law, sweet but inevitable, the Divine Master manifested His meek and humble Heart to all men crushed under the weight of inexorable obligations, that they may seek in It, as in an inexhaustible source, humility, meekness, and sweetness, without which it is impossible for obedience to be sincere or lasting: “Learn that I am meek and humble of Heart: “take up My yoke upon you, for My yoke is sweet and My burden light.” After having earnestly implored grace of the most obedient Heart of Jesus, which we adore in the consummation of obedience in the Blessed Sacrament, let us take the resolution to obey, each in his own state, every law to which we are subject, every superior who has authority over us. Let us obey all the general obligations of the Christian who has authority over us. Let us obey all the general obligations of the Christian contained in the Gospel, in the commandments of God and of the Church, in the liturgical laws. Let us render obedience to all the Decrees, all the directions of the Sovereign Pontiff, the universal Pastor, and to the lawful ordinances of diocesan Bishops. Let us, each in what concerns him, obey the laws that regulate particular states; for instance, the laws of marriage, of trade, of public functions, of the priesthood, and of the religious state. Let us render obedience to those that have a right to exact it; wives to their husbands, children to parents, servants to masters, employees and workmen to employers, subjects to the legitimate laws and to magistrates, parishioners to their pastors, penitents to confessors, religious to superiors, vicars to rectors, priests to their Bishop. It is at this price that notable victories of the spirit over the flesh are gained, of humility over pride, and the public ascendency of Christians over the enemies of their Faith: “The obedient man shall speak of victories “Lord, give to Thy servant a docile heart”. Ask Our Eucharistic Lord to increase your spirit of recollection. Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us. (300 days Indulgence, when said before the Blessed Sacrament)

– Father Albert Tesnière, 1847-1909

*** photo from the Shrine of Good Saint Anne, Hecktown, PA.

Now the holy Maiden calls me,
Bids me sing her wondrous story.
Son Divine, be thou my helper,
With thy gifts my harp enriching,
So that I may sing thy Mother,
Paint her picture full of beauty.
See, the Maiden womb conceiveth;
See, the Maiden breast is fruitful;
Wonder far surpassing nature
Mother’s milk and Maiden brightness,
All at once, in one pure body.
Wonders that no tongue can utter
See, her Son the Virgin beareth.
Lo, she gives her milk to feed him,
Food to him who feedeth all things.
See, her tender knees support him
Him whose power upholdeth all things.
Still a Maid and still a Mother,
What is there, we may not call her?
Fair in soul, in body holy;
Pure her mind and clear her judgment;
And her thoughts exceeding perfect.
She is chaste and she is prudent;
Fair in form and full of beauty.
Maidens all, rejoice in Mary,
Glad that she, a Maid, conceiveth,
Bearing him who beareth all things;
And in him the race of Adam
From its bondage is delivered.
Let him too rejoice in Mary
Adam, whom the serpent wounded.
Lo, she brings a Fruit, and feeds him,
And he tramples on the serpent ;
For that Fruit gives strength, and heals him
From the serpent’s deadly wounding.
Priests, rejoice in her, the blest One,
Bearing our great Priest and Victim,
Freeing you from sacrifices.
He himself becomes our Victim,
Reconciles us to his Father.
Prophets all, rejoice in Mary;
For in her your songs are ended,
All your prophecies are perfect,
All your words are proved and strengthened.
Patriarchs all, rejoice in Mary;
See, she takes your promised blessing;
In her Son, she makes you perfect
Priests and saints and seers he hallows.
For the bitter fruit our mother
Plucked from off the tree of knowledge,
See, the sweet Fruit Mary gives us,
Wherewith all the world is sweetened.
Now the Tree of Life, once hidden
In the midst of Eden’s garden,
Grows in Mary, springeth from her,
Far and wide its sweet fruits sending;
And the whole creation resteth
In the shadow of its branches.
Mary weaves the robe of glory,
Gives it to her father Adam,
Who mid Eden’s trees was naked,
Clothing him with peace and beauty.
Whom the wife o’erthrew the Daughter
Lifteth, and his heart is gladdened.
Eve and Satan leagued together
Dug the pit for Adam’s ruin.
Mary with the angel speaketh,
And from out the deep, they lift him,
By the mystery hid for ages,
Come to light for Adam’s healing.
Now the Virgin-Vine hath borne us
Grapes, that make the Wine of sweetness,
Where our parents, Eve and Adam,
Find true comfort in their sorrow,
Taste the drink of life and healing,
And their woes are lost in gladness.

– St. Ephrem, the Syrian, Hymn to our Lady. 4thc.

What a most blessed, blessed day!  I hope everyone had the opportunity to honor our Eucharistic Lord today in a special way.  I would like to share some photos from our day in St. Louis and also this wonderful quote on Corpus Christi by Cardinal Newman.  I hope they will inspire you hearts.

“There is no feast, no season in the whole year which is so intimately connected with our religious life, or shows more wonderfully what Christianity is, as that which we are now celebrating. There is a point of view in which this doctrine [of the Body and Blood of Christ] is nearer to our religious life than any other. And now I will explain what I mean.

How almighty love and wisdom has met this. He has met this by living among us with a continual presence. He is not past, He is present now. And though He is not seen, He is here. The same God who walked the water, who did miracles, etc., is in the Tabernacle. We come before Him, we speak to Him just as He was spoken to 1800 years ago, etc.

Nay, further, He [does] not [merely] present Himself before us as the object of worship, but God actually gives Himself to us to be received into our breasts. Wonderful communion. Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

This [is] how He counteracts time and the world. It [the Blessed Sacrament] is not past, it is not away. It is this that makes devotion in lives. It is the life of our religion. We are brought into the unseen world.”

– Sermon notes of John Henry cardinal Newman, 1849-1878

** photos above Procession with the Blessed Sacrament at the Oratory of Ss. Gregory and Augustine on the campus of the Benedictine Abbey.   Procession of the Blessed Sacrament exits the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.  Archbishop Robert Carlson holds the monstrance under the canopy.  An altar boy swings his censor of incense.  Procession to the first outside altar.  Leaving the Cathedral at the start of the Procession.  I will share some more later this week…

It was said that our Saint of the day, Anthony of Padua taught how “love penetrates where exterior knowledge cannot reach”.  What a simple and profound statement.  It seems an easy task to accomplish and maintain in our lives and, yet it is one that is so very difficult to train ourselves to do!

Today I will ask dear Anthony not to help me find my lost car keys, but will ask him to help me find all the love I am missing to share…

Here is a quotation from the Office of Readings…

“We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfillment, insofar as he infuses us with his grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. Likewise we shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon the triune God.”

– St. Anthony of Padua

Well, I’ve just crawled my way back home after a most glorious (grueling) day of photographic wonderment at the Installation mass of the new Archbishop of St. Louis, the Most Reverend Robert Carlson.  It is good timing for all the events to be drawing to a close as the sky is about to shower us down with water from above and St. Louis is under a tornado watch till after midnight!  Yipes!

I really wanted to upload some of my photos today but they are actually for now on the hard drive at the paper.  I’ll have to wait to do my own editing until tomorrow but for now you can go and see what we did today at the St. Louis Review online.  I was on the upper level for the mass so any that look like a “birds eye view” would be from my camera.  There was another photographer for the paper there too and he did a great job with the ground level.  It was a privilege to work with him and quite a few others today who are just TOPS at their jobs.  There was live updating on the website of the photos as they were taken so the online community could be as up to date as possible.  (You can see that Blogger Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia used our photos and had his stories posted sooner than anyone else.)  And, if you can believe this, when Mass ended there were actually paperboys waiting outside the front of the Cathedral to hand out copies of the Newspaper with photographs shot during the mass!  Now that is co-ordinated and practiced effort!  Super job!

I think I had most fun photographing afterwards with our former Bishops and Archbishops and also photographing with the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus and the Missionaries of Charity.  As I said last night, their smiles are just so gigantic that it is like heaven smiling down on the world!

Most of all I am thankful for this day as it has really gotten me back to my “Photowoman” days of old (like when I was 20 years younger and could carry a 40lb camera bag on my shoulder up and down an 8 story buildings without blinking or breaking a sweat!)  I am thankful for the trust given to me that I have begun to work in this capacity again.  To merge the passion of my faith with the passion I have for photography is a tremendous gift.

Praise be Jesus Christ, Now and FOREVER!

Oh, but I can not leave this post without offering some spiritual fruits for meditation…

A new friend sent me a wonderful meditation that I took with me for confidence this day (that I would not miss any important shots).  I am sure he would not mind me sharing it with you all…

“If we make God our first concern, God will look after our affairs much better than we ever can. Let us acknowledge humbly that our natural tendency is to be too attached to our activities, to allow ourselves to be carried away by them till they fill our minds completely. This won’t change until we acquire the wise habit of abandoning all activities, even the most urgent and important ones, in order to give freely to God.”
Jacques Philippe – Time for God

Walking into the doors of the Cathedral here in St. Louis is always a moment of wonder.  As many times as I have gone through them, I still get a little shock somewhere deep inside at the beauty which envelops me.  It really is a most spectacular place and certainly there is much beauty in this place of worship which helps to lift a soul’s heart and mind to Heaven.  Praise God for those who Holy Souls who lay the first cornerstone and for all those talented artisans and builders who labored for the benefit of all humanity!

I (among MANY others) was here tonight to recite Evening Prayer with our Archbishop Elect, Bishop Robert Carlson.  The Cathedral was a buzz and there were so many wonderful little things to see.  I was happy to spot the Carmelites of St. Louis (there are two Carmelite Nuns in St. Louis – the cloistered Discalced and the active group) and their smiles were as large as they ever are.  I guess really they just must wear permanent smiles.  There were also tons of other folks from the Benedictine Monks to the Dominicans and Fransicans galore to the Ladies and Knights of Malta, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem , Knights of Columbus. There were many more religious groups who I didn’t even recognize — God bless them!

Taking a kneeler it was a little difficult not to be distracted in meditation because the Cathedral was so full of happy folks that I guess they could not contain their excitement. The usual quiet environment was replaced by a cacophony of happy chatter.  Nevertheless, I am sure there were many faithful who were able to tune out the background noise.  It is quite easy to do because if one just looks upon that most spectacularly white marble crucifix upon the altar they can not help but become silenced!  That lowest moment of humanity’s existence when our Lord hung in His great agony.  Surrounded only by the few who stayed at His feet, they were helpless to offer Him any comfort but their own agony. Gosh!

O.K.  I guess it is apparent just how much my heart loves that particular crucifix..

Let me finish giving a quick play by play and then I must get off to bed…

The procession into the Cathedral while not as long and large as it will be tomorrow, was still resplendent with beauty.  I was happy to see my favorite altar boy amongst the processors and all those lovely young seminarians who honor our Archdiocese with their vigor and excitement.  There were also many other Bishops in attendance, many of whom have come from St. Louis including Kansas City’s Bishop Finn and Kansas City Kansas’ Archbishop Nauman.  Also we were happy to be able to see Justin Cardinal Rigali who is now in Philadelphia and Archbishop Raymond Burke in from his home in Rome.  I am certainly leaving names out, please excuse, there will be more in attendance tomorrow…

The choir (another most overwhelmingly wonderful addition to the beauty of any mass or prayer in this holy space) then chanted/sung Vespers and Bishop Carlson gave a homily.  I liked that he talked about our duty as Catholics in contemporary society.  I’ll end this posting with his words of inspiration.  He said:

“The Gospel calls us to preach a heavenly wisdom that is pure and peaceful and reasonable. Our message is one that rejoices in the truth and offers hope and leads the way to Christ.

At the same time I am keenly aware that we are not only preaching to the choir.   The Church must also be willing to engage the culture and this gives us the trouble when our teaching conflicts with the wisdom of the day.  But it is also our duty to be a moral voice in the community. Think about the values of contemporary culture and compare them with the values of the Gospel.

Perhaps there was a time when the culture supported the values of the culture, or at least appeared to do so.  But we now live in a culture that is not particularly friendly and is sometimes actively hostile to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel it invites us to choose life.  But the the culture tells us that death is an equally legitimate choice.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and the culture tells us that there are are many other equally valid ways and truths and lifestyles.

Jesus Himself tells us that the path to heaven is narrow while  the path to hell is broad in Mathew chapter 7.  And the culture tells us that the path to heaven is broad while the path to hell is narrow.

Now not everything in our culture is hostile to the values of the Gospel but at the same time the list of contradictions could be multiplied.

So let us go to the bottom line.

If we can point to a number of issues on which the values we live by differ from the values of our culture than we have to wonder about the depth of our commitment to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“I believe that our witness to the faith in word and deed can win the day.  And this is why I pray so often, May the Holy Spirit get the last word…”

The homily continued to be wonderful…  but that it is late and time to finish writing! I believe the church in St. Louis to be blessed yet again…  Goodnight!

It was wonderful to read the words of Saint Ephrem this morning.  He prayerfully inspires us to unite ourselves to God through a sacramental life and says “May your resurrection, Jesus, bring the true greatness to our spiritual self and may your sacraments be the mirror wherein we may know that self.” The sacraments are such a treasure for us and gosh I wish that everyone could come to know and love and appreciate them.  They are absolutely PRICELESS!  I’ll share one more little prayerful nugget from Ephrem.  He is using a kind of “light” motif which Athanasius used the other day and which as a photographer I appreciate so well…

“Lord, shed upon our darkened souls the brilliant light o your wisdom so that we may be enlightened and serve you with renewed purity.  Sunrise marks the hour for men to begin their toil, but in our souls, Lord, prepare a dwelling for the day that will never end.  Grant that we may come to know the risen life and that nothing may distract us from the delights you offer.  Through our unremitting zeal for your, Lord, set upon us the sign of your day that is not measured by the sun.”

Wow!

It is an exciting week here in St. Louis as we are readying ourselves for the installation mass of our new Archbishop tomorrow.   I’m VERY excited and so will even admit that I will be on assignment tomorrow for the event.  I will share a couple of photos when I can but you will be able to see them all live at the St. Louis Review Newspaper On-line. They are going to be posting images as they happen so if you are not watching EWTN on your television or the Archdiocese Live online feed you can instead visit the Review for some wonderful photography (May it be His Holy Will!)  There is a Mass Program in PDF here. And also, there will be a Twitter feed but since I’m not up for this technology (in fact there is something I really don’t like about it… who knows why.)

My little friend took a trip to see her husband’s mother a little while back.  It was a big deal and I really wanted to sneak into their suitcase because the Mother lives in Avila!  (Yes, as in Avila, Spain where the city still is circled like a medieval fortress with stone walls and towers where my favorite spiritual friend once lived, St. Teresa!)

Well, I didn’t get to tag along (this time) but was happy to see a gift she brought back from the Carmel of St. Joseph there and gave to our Carmelites of St. Joseph here.  What a treasure…

Here are two prayerful writings for dear St. Teresa.

Regis Superni Nuntia

GOD’S messenger, Theresa,

Thou leav’st Thy father’s home

To bring mankind to Jesus,

Or gain sweet Martyrdom.

But milder death awaits thee,

And fonder pains are thine,

God’s blessed angel wounds thee

With fire of love divine.

Sweet virgin, love’s pure victim,

So fire our souls with love,

And lead thy trusting people

Safe to the realms above

Give glory to the Father,

The Spirit and the Son,

One Trinity, one Godhead,

While endless ages run.

Hymn for Vespers and Matins on 15 October, feast of Saint Theresa. It was written by Pope Urban VIII

******

Haec est Dies

BEHOLD the blessed morning,
When, like a snow-white dove,
Thy soul arose, Theresa,
To join the choirs above.

Happy feast of the Blessed Trinity (and if it were not Sunday, Carmelite feast of Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew).  If you do not know this lovely Carmelite you can have a little listen to some meditations from her which come from a book by a “Carmelite Nun from the Carmel of St. Joseph” here in St. Louis.

I was so excited today praying the Office of Readings this morning with that wonderful passage from a letter of St. Athanasius.  He was writing to explain about the mystery of the Holy Trinity and explained it through the metaphor of light.  I was sure my daughter (who many times comes to me with a squirreled look upon her face and blurts out — that Holy Trinity is a big darn mystery MaMa!)  would appreciate hearing Athanasius’ explanation and so I will share it with you too.  It seems a great way to explain the Trinity to children (and adults!)

This is a nugget of what Saint Athanasius writes:

“For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and itsresplendent grace.”

AWESOME!

Now, you must first imagine in your mind a source of a light (which would be God the Father).  He is the source and power which begets the source of  light.  Then there is the actual “flame of the light” (which would be the Son).  The Son (sun?) is the rays of light which come forth from the source of the light.  As humans, we can physically see this light and how it falls upon its subject matter.  The specularity of highlights interplays with contours of space and and the emptiness of  shadow which becomes apparent from the lack of such wonderful light.   This light defines and gives shape and form to everything it touches.  It blankets all in a warm and soft (and sometimes harsh) glow.  This light penetrates all of the physical world and we as physical beings can see this light with our eyes.  But there is yet another way to experience this light-  with our other senses.  There exists the invisible heat and presence which is felt by the flame or rays of light.  This is the power of the invisible Holy Spirit.  We can not “see the heat” but we can sure feel its effects!  The warmth of a fire, the happiness of the sun felt on our face.  WoW!  How spectacular!  Shout it out people!  Didn’t I say it was AWESOME!

Here is something else quite awesome in a different way…

I think I know who might be to blame/thank for this (your name begins with a T, mom)  But I have just been alerted that the Aeternus Blog was nominated for the best spiritual blog at the Catholic New Media Awards.  Gosh, that is amazing.  I can’t hardly believe that.  I hope it is not a giant slip into pride if I mention the award nomination!!!

I started this blog so long ago as a way to share with others what fruitful gifts I was finding in my daily study of our faith and prayer.  I rather thought it to be a hidden little adventure but it has certainly changed over the years.  I really enjoy being able not only to share the words of spiritual masters but to write a bit about my Catholic Mom life. Also now illustrating the blog with just my own photographs has been a hidden grace.  It is fun to share them and also has gotten me back into taking my camera everywhere with me again!  I forgot how much fun I used to have making pictures in my former photojournalist life!  Now it seems the old life and the new life are merging back together in some kind of crazy middle years adventure.  It is allowing me to make some great photos like the hands in the photo above — (guess which holy hands they are).  Anyway, all I can say is: Praise God for His wonderful humor in my life!!!! He is waking me up again to another phase of this soul’s existence…

So, meekly and sheepishly I will put a button below here which will take you over to the Catholic New Media Awards page…There are lots of great blogs featured over there including many from the aeternus blogroll so support your favorite bloggers.  Oh, and don’t forget to tick off a vote for the “Meditations from Carmel” podcast.

Have we gotten Confirmation on that? Yes, we have Confirmation on that!

It all started this year with a new schools and new schedules for the family.  I could not make my morning “mom bus” run to drop off my Junior High School son and have enough time to turn around and get back for mass at the Carmelite Monastery.  At first I thought this to be the most terrible thing on earth but was quickly shown the error of my thoughtless ways as I was alerted to a Traditional mass prayed each morning on the school/parish/Abbey grounds.  (I have written about this a bit before so bear with me if you already know these details!)

As the story goes, I learned to very much appreciate the mass prayed in its Traditional way (Extraordinary way) and found my soul to be so appreciative of the silence and solemnity of the mass.  When our Junior School boy started having trouble in Latin class I prescribed a treatment of a Latin Mass Novena which he was more than eager to perform.  By the end of the Novena he was asked to learn to serve the mass and a couple of weeks later made his debut.  So, why am I re-telling this story?  Well, just to explain how it is that at the end of the school year our young server was asked to join the first class of Confirmed souls at the Oratory of Sts. Gregory and Augustine.  How awesome!

Some 23 young souls knelt before the Bishop last evening and the Holy Spirit imparted an indelible seal on their little souls.  While the Oratory is a small lower level room at the moment (they are eager to build their own church) it was joyful for it to be filled with the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit which poured down from Heaven into it.  Wisdom,Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord filled the small room as did the sounds of many young families and the music of lots of babies.  With so many parishoners (and the numbers growing so quickly) the small room will not hold for much longer!

The sacramental ceremony begins with the Bishop being led to the altar as he is seated on his chair.  The Deacons and Subdecons then change the Bishop into his special vestments.  He then sits and addresses the young aspirants.

Our Bishop is such a wonderful man — his humor and love flowing from a deep care for souls.  What a blessing he is!   The Bishop  jested with the children and also instructed them how the sacrament would fill their souls with a new appreciation for the love of Christ and knowing His forgiveness, mercy and love in a new and powerful way.

After talking to the children the Bishop was ready to Confirm the children so each on in turn took his kneeling position at the Bishop’s feet.  He diped his thumb into the Holy Chrism oil and traced the Sign of the Cross onto the forehead of the candidate.  He prays:

“Signo te signo Cru cis et confírmo te Chrísmate salútis. In nómine Pa tris, et Fí lii, et Spíritus Sancti.”

(I seal thee with the sign of the Cross and I confirm thee with the Chrism of salvation. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.) The confirmed responds:”Amen.” The bishop lightly taps the confirmed upon the cheek, saying: “Pax tecum” (Peace be with thee).

It was a beautiful ceremony and I was happy to see my son kneeling on the small altar.  He was flanked by his sponsor, a Benedictine Brother of the community who taught him theology (and much more) this year.  (Our son thinks this world of this young Monk and so do his parents!)  Auspiciously he chose Benedict as his name of Confirmation in the Holy Spirit and so perhaps I will refer to him under this new name on the blog from now on…

The night was beautiful and he was such a happy lad, his eyes all lit up with happiness and joy.  Many little things came together on this night to make it quite memorable and I can only praise the Holy Spirit for His marvelous actions and amazing ways.  He was a literal chatterbox of stories as we drove home late last night.  His excitement not letting him fall asleep well into this new day.  God bless this sweet boy.

Now, in case you are in St. Louis and may like to visit, here is more about the Oratory…

The Oratory of Sts. Gregory and Augustine began its young life only 18 months ago when it was established by His Grace Archbishop Burke. It is a non-territorial parish of the Archdiocese of St. Louis that celebrates all the Church’s Sacraments in their extraordinary form for the pastoral good of the faithful according to the 1962 Missale Romanum. Archbishop Burke entrusted it to the the pastoral care of the Benedictine Monks of St. Louis Abbey and Father Bede Price, OSB was appointed Rector of the Oratory.  You can learn more by visiting their website here.