Topics: Clear Creek Monastery: Elevated to Abbey....Photo: Mass During War...His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI: Message for Lent....There Will be a Quiz After Mass: Latin Grammar....Pope Reflects: St. Anthony of Padua....Hitler Rails Against Pope Benedict: YouTube
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Dear Readers,
What? No comments on the new header? I thought is was groovy, the bees knees, "da bomb", the cat's meow........
There will be a written quiz and oral exams after mass on the basic Latin pronunciations of vowels and consonants that are listed in this week's post. Don't be nervous, just study hard.
...and now the Necessaries
Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is one of two local churchs celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass (EFLR) in the Wichita area. Though this blog is loosely centered around this parish and it's members, Venite Missa Est! is by no means, in any way an official voice of, or for, St. Anthony Parish or the Diocese of Wichita. Venite Missa Est is strictly a private layman's endeavor.
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Clear Creek Elevated to Status of Abbey
The Diocese of Tulsa Website
2/12/2010 - EOC Staff
The 33 monks of Clear Creek Monastery near Hulbert received the happy news that their priory has been elevated to the status of a self-governing Abbey. Dom Antoine Forgeot, O.S.B., Abbot of Clear Creek Monastery’s motherhouse in France, announced the change in status to the community on February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
At the same time, Father Phillip Anderson, one of the original 12 monks who came from the Abbey of Our Lady of Fontgombault in France to help found Clear Creek has been named Abbot of what will now be known as Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Abbey. Father Anderson has served the monastic community since its foundation as its prior.
“It’s a moment of perfection and the moment you become fully what you were meant to be. To become an Abbey is to reach a certain point of maturity,” said Abbot Anderson.
Clear Creek Monastery was established in 1999 at the invitation of Bishop Edward J. Slattery. While the following 10 years were a time of decline for monasteries nation-wide and world-wide, Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey has grown from the original 12 monks to its current population of 18 professed monks (12 priests-monks and six lay brothers), with seven junior monks (under their first vows) and another eight novices and postulants.
Abbot Anderson explained that following its initial foundation, a monastery must achieve a certain level of stability, manifested in both its ability to attract vocations and in its ability to become financially secure before it can be named an Abbey. In the Benedictine Congregation of Solesmes, to which Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey belongs, this stability must be met within its first 13 years of existence. When those conditions were met, Dom Antoine Forgeot, Abbot of the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault, recommended the change in status to the Abbot of St. Pierre de Solesmes.
While final approval technically comes from the Holy See, that final approval has been delegated to the Abbey of Solesmes.
Clear Creek is the fourth daughterhouse of Fontgombault to be raised to the level of an Abbey and is the twentieth Abbey in the Congregation of Solesmes
Abbot Anderson said there will be very few changes in day to day life at Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey, although his role will change dramatically in liturgical and governmental terms. The new Abbey will operate independently of the former Mother House and he will assume a role in the community which is similar to the role a bishop exercises in the diocese, that is, the three-fold role of sanctifying, teaching and governing.
“Abbot Forgeot hopes we maintain a close relationship with Fontgombault and so do we,” Abbot Anderson said. “Our spiritual roots are in France.”
The public is invited to attend the blessing of Abbot Anderson at Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey on Saturday, April 10.
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Photo of Army Chaplain Celebrating Mass During War
U.S. Army Museum at Fort DeRussy
Waikiki Hawaii
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His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's Message for Lent
Zenit
VATICAN CITY, FEB. 4, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is Benedict XVI's message for Lent, which was published today by the Vatican press office. The message has as its theme: "The Justice of God Has Been Manifested Through Faith in Jesus Christ."
Lent begins Feb. 17.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Each year, on the occasion of Lent, the Church invites us to a sincere review of our life in light of the teachings of the Gospel. This year, I would like to offer you some reflections on the great theme of justice, beginning from the Pauline affirmation: "The justice of God has been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ" (cf. Rm 3, 21-22).
Justice: "dare cuique suum"
First of all, I want to consider the meaning of the term "justice," which in common usage implies "to render to every man his due," according to the famous expression of Ulpian, a Roman jurist of the third century. In reality, however, this classical definition does not specify what "due" is to be rendered to each person. What man needs most cannot be guaranteed to him by law. In order to live life to the full, something more intimate is necessary that can be granted only as a gift: we could say that man lives by that love which only God can communicate since He created the human person in His image and likeness. Material goods are certainly useful and required – indeed Jesus Himself was concerned to heal the sick, feed the crowds that followed Him and surely condemns the indifference that even today forces hundreds of millions into death through lack of food, water and medicine – yet "distributive" justice does not render to the human being the totality of his "due." Just as man needs bread, so does man have even more need of God. Saint Augustine notes: if "justice is that virtue which gives every one his due ... where, then, is the justice of man, when he deserts the true God?" (De civitate Dei, XIX, 21).
What is the Cause of Injustice?
The Evangelist Mark reports the following words of Jesus, which are inserted within the debate at that time regarding what is pure and impure: "There is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him … What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts" (Mk 7, 14-15, 20-21). Beyond the immediate question concerning food, we can detect in the reaction of the Pharisees a permanent temptation within man: to situate the origin of evil in an exterior cause. Many modern ideologies deep down have this presupposition: since injustice comes "from outside," in order for justice to reign, it is sufficient to remove the exterior causes that prevent it being achieved. This way of thinking – Jesus warns – is ingenuous and shortsighted. Injustice, the fruit of evil, does not have exclusively external roots; its origin lies in the human heart, where the seeds are found of a mysterious cooperation with evil. With bitterness the Psalmist recognises this: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps 51,7). Indeed, man is weakened by an intense influence, which wounds his capacity to enter into communion with the other.
By nature, he is open to sharing freely, but he finds in his being a strange force of gravity that makes him turn in and affirm himself above and against others: this is egoism, the result of original sin. Adam and Eve, seduced by Satan’s lie, snatching the mysterious fruit against the divine command, replaced the logic of trusting in Love with that of suspicion and competition; the logic of receiving and trustfully expecting from the Other with anxiously seizing and doing on one’s own (cf. Gn 3, 1-6), experiencing, as a consequence, a sense of disquiet and uncertainty. How can man free himself from this selfish influence and open himself to love?
Justice and Sedaqah
At the heart of the wisdom of Israel, we find a profound link between faith in God who "lifts the needy from the ash heap" (Ps 113,7) and justice towards one’s neighbor. The Hebrew word itself that indicates the virtue of justice, sedaqah, expresses this well. Sedaqah, in fact, signifies on the one hand full acceptance of the will of the God of Israel; on the other hand, equity in relation to one’s neighbour (cf. Ex 20, 12-17), especially the poor, the stranger, the orphan and the widow (cf. Dt 10, 18-19). But the two meanings are linked because giving to the poor for the Israelite is none other than restoring what is owed to God, who had pity on the misery of His people. It was not by chance that the gift to Moses of the tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai took place after the crossing of the Red Sea. Listening to the Law presupposes faith in God who first "heard the cry" of His people and "came down to deliver them out of hand of the Egyptians" (cf. Ex 3,8). God is attentive to the cry of the poor and in return asks to be listened to: He asks for justice towards the poor (cf. Sir 4,4-5, 8-9), the stranger (cf. Ex 22,20), the slave (cf. Dt 15, 12-18). In order to enter into justice, it is thus necessary to leave that illusion of self-sufficiency, the profound state of closure, which is the very origin of injustice. In other words, what is needed is an even deeper "exodus" than that accomplished by God with Moses, a liberation of the heart, which the Law on its own is powerless to realize. Does man have any hope of justice then?
Christ, the Justice of God
The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: "But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (3, 21-25).
What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that "expiation" flows from the "blood" of Christ signifies that it is not man’s sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the "curse" due to man so as to give in return the "blessing" due to God (cf. Gal 3, 13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his "due"? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from "what is mine," to give me gratuitously "what is His." This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the "greatest" justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected.
Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.
Dear brothers and sisters, Lent culminates in the Paschal Triduum, in which this year, too, we shall celebrate divine justice – the fullness of charity, gift, salvation. May this penitential season be for every Christian a time of authentic conversion and intense knowledge of the mystery of Christ, who came to fulfill every justice. With these sentiments, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 30 October 2009
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
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Latin Grammar
From the book Latin Grammar
by Cora Carroll Scanlon A.M. and Charles L. Scanlon A.M.
Tan Books and Publishers, Inc.
Here are some basic Latin pronunciations of vowels and consonants. More to follow next week. Study hard!! If the image below is to hard to read (or you folks that subscribe in email don't see it) go to this page. http://bumpy187.googlepages.com/latingrammar
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Pontiff Reflects on a Pillar of Franciscan History
Tip o' the Hat to Larry Bethel
Zenit
Notes Contribution of St. Anthony of Padua
VATICAN CITY, FEB. 10, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI today considered the spiritual contribution to history of a saint he characterized as one of the most popular in the whole Catholic Church.
Following his reflections last week and the week before on Sts. Francis and Dominic, the Pope today considered one of the key cofounders of the Franciscans, St. Anthony of Padua.
A gifted preacher, this saint initiated one of the "specific features of Franciscan theology," the Holy Father said, namely "the role given to divine love, which enters in the sphere of affection, of the will, of the heart and which is also the source from which springs a spiritual knowledge that surpasses all knowledge."
In fact, the Pontiff affirmed, "Anthony contributed in a significant way to the development of Franciscan spirituality, with his outstanding gifts of intelligence, balance, apostolic zeal and, mainly, mystical fervor."
Born in 1195, and given the name Fernando, the future Franciscan initially joined the Canons of St. Augustine. In 1220, when he learned of the first five Franciscan missionaries who had gone to Morocco and were martyred, Fernando decided to join the Franciscans and took the name Anthony.
He would later serve as the provincial superior of the Franciscans of northern Italy. Toward the end of his life, he dedicated himself to writing two collections of sermons.
"The wealth of the spiritual teachings contained in the 'Sermons' is such that, in 1946, the Venerable Pope Pius XII proclaimed Anthony a doctor of the Church, attributing to him the title of 'Evangelic Doctor,' because from these writings arises the freshness and beauty of the Gospel; even today we can read them with great spiritual profit," Benedict XVI said.
Prayer
The Holy Father highlighted Anthony's teaching on prayer found in the Sermons: "He speaks of prayer as a relationship of love, which drives man to converse sweetly with the Lord, creating an ineffable joy, which gently envelops the soul in prayer.
"Anthony reminds us that prayer needs an atmosphere of silence, which is not the same as withdrawal from external noise, but is an interior experience, which seeks to remove the distractions caused by the soul's preoccupations. According to the teaching of this distinguished Franciscan doctor, prayer is made up of four indispensable attitudes which, in Anthony's Latin, are described as: obsecratio, oratio, postulatio, gratiarum actio. We could translate them thus: to open one's heart confidently to God, to speak affectionately with him, to present to him our needs, to praise him and to thank him."
The Pontiff noted Anthony's teaching that prayer is a requisite for progress in the spiritual life.
"Anthony many times invites the faithful to think of true wealth, that of the heart, which, making them good and merciful, makes them accumulate treasures for Heaven," the Pontiff said. And he added, "Is not this perhaps, dear friends, a very important teaching also today, when the financial crisis and the serious economic imbalances impoverish not a few persons and create conditions of misery?"
In his English-language summary of the audience address, the Holy Father invited the faithful to pray with Anthony's intercession: "In this Year for Priests, let us ask St. Anthony to pray that all preachers will communicate a burning love for Christ, a thirst for closeness to the Lord in prayer, and a deeper appreciation of the truth and beauty of God's word."
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Hitler Rails Against Pope Benedict
You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b12aglwd8QY&feature=player_embedded
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