Anyway, it is a worthwhile read for those interested in the topic.

“In danger, in anguish, in uncertainty,” he says, “think of Mary, call on Mary. May she never be far from your lips, from your heart; and thus you will be able to obtain the help of her prayer, never forget the example of her life. If you follow her, you cannot go astray; if you pray to her, you cannot despair; if you think of her, you cannot be mistaken. If she sustains you, you cannot fall; if she protects you, you have nothing to fear; if she guides you, do not tire; if she is propitious to you, you will reach the goal …” (Hom. II super “Missus est,” 17: PL 183, 70-71).

Here is the full address on St. Bernard by Pope Benedict.

Librivox has a free audio book of St. Bernard’s “On Loving God.”

And over here you can download or read online a book of some of his sermons on Advent and Christmas.

Laurence is probably the greatest deacon ever except for Stephen the first martyr.  As I mentioned in the last post, the finding of St. Stephen was formerly celebrated on August 3rd (before getting the axe in 1960).  The proximity of that feast to today’s feast associated the two great deacons together.  They are also associated by the sharing a tomb together in Rome, which came about by many miraculous events.

My children took a liking to this saint a few years ago when I told them the story of how he was put onto a gridiron with hot coals beneath him.  He never waivered in his zeal for our Lord, or in his cheerfulness, telling his torturerors after awhile that he was well done on one side so they could flip him over.  The kids get a laugh out of that.  So we don’t make a big production out of this feast day, but we do try to make a little special.  It was way to hot for a bon fire today, but we did cook out on the grill in Laurence’s honor.  Since some accounts of his martyrdom say that he was also poked with hot irons (or even pitch forks) we cooked kabobs.  I also found this nice coloring page.

Here is the collect for St. Laurence:

We Beseech Thee, almighty God, grant us to quench the flames of our vices, even as Thou gavest blessed Laurence grace to overcome his fiery torments.  Through Christ our Lord.

This feast commemorated the liberty of Peter, when he was freed from the prison of Herod by an angel (Acts 12:6).  But two other events related to the relics of his chains are also a factor in why this feast was kept.  The first was when Pope Alexander was imprisoned by the tribune Quirinus.  Quirinus’s daughter was sick, and he promised to embrace the Christian faith if Pope Alexander could obtain a cure for her.  When Quirinus brought his daughter to him, he told her to find the chains Peter was bound with (under Nero) and when she kissed them she should be healed.  Quirinus found the chains, and his daughter was indeed cured.

For the second, the old Roman breviary tells us how a woman named Eudocia went to Jerusalem and was given the Peter’s chains from when he was bound by Herod.  She venerated the chains, and sent them on to he daughter Eudoxia in Rome.  The latter took the chains to the Pope who brought out the chains that Quirinus had found.  When they were laid together they joined into one chain.  Because of this and other miracles related to the chains, they began to be held in high esteem.  At the time, August 1st was celebrated by pagans in honor of the Octavius, the first Emperor and the first to be called Augustus (from whom this moth gets its name).   To overcome this pagan festival, the Pope rededicated a church on August 1st, calling it St. Peter Ad Vincula (at the chains) and he placed the miraculous chain therein.  So the dedication of that church named in honor of the St. Peter’s chains is probably the main reason this feast was celebrated.

However another reason for the establishment of this, given in the Golden Legend, is this:

The Lord miraculously loosed Peter’s bonds and gave him the power to bind and to loose.  We, on the other hand, are held and bound by the bonds of sin, and need to have those bonds loosed.  Therefore we honor Peter on the feast called ad vincula, in order that as he merited to be freed of his bonds and received from the Lord the power of loosing, he may absolve us of the bonds of sin.  That this really constituted a reason for the establishment of the feast is clear from the liturgical readings in the day’s Mass.  The epistle commemorates the apostle’s liberation from his chains, and the gospel narrates the conferring upon him of the power of absolution, while the prayer [note: he is referring to the Collect] of the Mass asks that absolution be given to us through him.

That we all need help to be loosed from the bonds of sin is a lesson we could all use today.  Not to sound like a broken record, but this another liturgical observance that was cut at a very poor time.  Here is the Collect referred to by Jocubus de Voragine:

O God Who, breaking the chains that bound blessed Peter the Apostle, didst bid him to go forth unharmed : free us, we beseech Thee, from the bonds of sin, and in Thy great mercy keep far from us all evil.  Through our Lord.

On this day, therefore, let us too imitate the Church; let us avoid that forgetfulness which bespeaks ingratitude; let us hail, with thanksgiving and heartfelt gladness, the arrival of him who promises our Savior to us.  Already Christmas is announced…

St John’s vigil is no longer of precept.  Formerly, however, not one day’s fasting only, but an entire Lent was observed at the approach of the Nativity of the Precursor, resembling in its length and severity that of the Advent of our Lord.  After seeing the penance of St. John’s fast equalled to the austerity of that preceding Christmas, is it not surprising to behold the Church in her liturgy making the two Nativities closely resemble on another, to a degree that would be apt to stagger the limping faith of many nowadays?

In the Golden Legend it is noted there was some dispute about which John was greater, the Apostle or the Baptist.  Jacobus de Voragine notes that these disputes are inappropriate and relates a tale about two doctors of theology who were set to have a debate over which John was greater.  (Could you imagine a Catholic University today hosting a debate like this?  Most of the faculty probably wouldn’t even realize they were two different guys!)  The debate was all set, but the night before, each doctor had a vision of the saints telling them, “we get along very well together in heaven!  Don’t start disputes about us on earth!”

We hosted a Summer Christmas party here in honor of the feast in our back yard.  We did it the Saturday after the feast, which used to fall within the octave when there was one.  We had candy canes and games for the kids (and adults) including apple bobbing, water balloons, and sack races.  We prayed Vespers outside with a commemoration for St. John.  And of course the evening was capped with a big bonfire.  All in all, a wholesome, good time.  And as with our Michaelmas party last year, the weather was much milder than forecasted.

Backyard bonfire for St. John's day.

]]> http://benedictus.mantoanpages.net/?feed=rss2&p=517 http://benedictus.mantoanpages.net/?p=514 http://benedictus.mantoanpages.net/?p=514#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:08:09 +0000 tony http://benedictus.mantoanpages.net/?p=514 Things have been pretty quite here lately, but not only am I NOT going to shut this blog down, I have started blogging with my wife over at her blog.  Over there I am mainly writing posts about our fledgling homestead.  Here I will continue to more religious posts.  I will cross post if the topic seems apropos to both.  As you can see from the time she announced I would be joining her there to the time I actually got a post up, I will be just punctual there as I am here.

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

And another prayer from her Exercises (exercise V To enkindle in the soul the love of God) :

O Love, when the shadows of evening fall upon my life, deign to shine forth on me as the morning dawn; and when I lie down in death give me to draw eternal life from thee.  When I go forth from this land of exile lead me up thyself to the marriage supper of the Lamb; bring me to the Bridegroom and true Friend of my soul.  Do thou, O Love eternal, unite me for ever to him, that none may take me from his divine embrace.

Aside from that, here is the “Miraculous Responsory” from the Franciscan breviary on St. Anthony’s feast day.  The office for St. Anthony is believed to have been composed by St. Bonaventure.

If ye seek miracles, lo! death, error, calamities, the demon and the leprosy, flee all away; the sick also arise healed.

*Sea and chains give way; young and old alike ask and receive again the use of members, as well as things lost.

V. Dangers vanish; necessity ceases; let those who have experienced such things relate these facts; let the Paduans repeat:

*Sea, &c.

Glory be.

*Sea, &c.

V. Pray for us, O blessed Anthony.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

May the votive solemnity of blesses Anthony, thy Confessor, give joy to thy Church, O God; that it may be ever defended by spiritual assistance, and deserve to posses eternal joys.  Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

And also this from Dom Gueranger’s prayer to St. Anthony (LY vol XII), sadly still just as relevant today as it was 150 years ago.

Alas! error, having long ago recovered from the vigorous blows dealt by thee, is yet more emboldened in these days, claiming even sole right to speak.  The offspring of Manes, whom, under the name of Albigenses, thou didst so successfully combat, would now, under the new appellation of freemasonry, have all France at its beck; thy native Portugal beholds the same monster stalking in the broad daylight almost up to the very altar; and the whole world is being intoxicated by its poison.  O thou who dost daily fly to the aid of thy devoted clients in their private necessities, thou whose power is the same in heaven as heretofore upon earth, succour the Church, aid God’s people, have pity upon society, now more universally and deeply menaced than ever.

There is also this nice commentary on St. Anthony by Pope Benedict from earlier in the year.

To the outsider, the Amish lifestyle can appear to be one of deprivation and austerity, prompting us to ask: What’s kept the culture alive?  And can it continue?  The answer may lie in the culture’s central, guiding value.  Called gelassenheit, it is one of humility and selflessness, a surrendering to God first and community second, with self-interest always coming in last.  “It can be argued that gelassenheit is the key feature that has helped sustain the Amish and acted as a compass,” says McConnell.  ìItís not that their culture isn’t changing, it’s how the sensibility of gelassenheit directs those calibrations.

A spirit of selflessness begins with the family, where divorce is taboo and large, multigenerational households are universal.

What caught my attention was the sense of wonder that an austere culture would survive so long, and if it could continue.  I realize that I live in somewhat of a bubble detached from mainstream thinking, but is it really not obvious that an austere, simple society has more staying power than a decadent and hedonistic society?  One society lives well within its means, one greatly exceeds its means.  It’s not climate science.

The description of gelassenheit comes across as if it were some kind of unheard of principle.  The word might be unfamiliar, but the idea was the standard in Western society until relatively recent times.  And, hold on to your hats, divorce is taboo!  What strange creatures these Amish are.  I guess there is no other religion that forbids divorce.  Even multigenerational homes have only become a rarity in the last seventy five years or so (at least based on my own anecdotal evidence).

What is impressive about the Amish isn’t the concept of gelassenheit itself, which is really just common sense, but their steadfast adherence to it.  When the rest of the West caved in to the cult of individuality and materialism, they stuck to their guns (ironic since they are strict pacifists).  Having grown up in Lancaster PA, I often wondered how it was that they preserved their ways when everything was changing around them.  I suspect the close knit, closed community was the biggest factor.  In earlier times I believe many Amish communities strictly refused to socialize with the “English” (i.e. non-Amish) barring an emergency.  Nowadays I don’t think the rules are as strict, but they are still pretty introverted within their own communities.  Basically, they cut themselves off from wider society around them, but maintained a substantial internal community.

Now you know where this is going.  I often find myself wondering if it is necessary for Catholics to take the Amish approach (not regarding technology but certainly regarding self-sufficiency and modest living).  Whenever this topic comes up, someone brings up the passage from the Early Church Fathers, (I don’t remember it exactly) where it was said that Christians don’t live segregated from the rest of society.  And someone will say, “we are supposed to be in the world to be salt for the Earth,” and such like.  But a “trad town” is still “in the world” and it can still have connections to the exterior world that make it an example and witness to our faith.  I’m not talking about The Village here.  Ancient monasteries had a significant influence on the surrounding communities despite being cloistered.

Most varieties of protestantism are basically individualist religions.  But the Catholic faith is a communal religion.  Our Lord established it as such and I would argue that the Liturgy presupposes strong communal integration.  But that has almost entirely disappeared in the modern world.  The Amish maintained that communal integration, and they are able to persist in their ways.  Catholics went the way of the world and we are falling off a cliff.  Is it perhaps time we rejected the world?  Raise the bastions instead of razing them?

Aside from the moral corrosiveness of our society, it is becoming increasingly difficult just to live a humane life.  The intrusion of government bureaucracy into every facet of life has become smothering.  The “safety net” is more of a safety cage.  The way we are encouraged to put our life on the “career track” and to plan and schedule everything, even our children.  I could go on and on.  It goes well beyond the few things mentioned above.  The education system, the economy, our food supply, political system, and so forth.  And it effects every one, Catholics and non-Catholics alike (yes, trad Catholics too).  Maybe I’ll try to do a post summarizing what I see as the problems with all those things, but it is too much to go into here.  My point is that modern world tries to make us live more like zoo animals than like men and women.  We are “cared for” by the powers that be, but we don’t really live.  But if you are going to live like a Catholic, it is helpful to be able to live like a man.  And that is why I often wonder if it is not time for Catholics to consider the “Amish Option.”  Opt out of this upside down society and show people a better way of life.  If that’s even possible.  Maybe that’s not the answer, but I think it is worth considering.

For reading that inspired some of these thoughts I highly recommend Anthony Esolen’s article, The Unquiet Men.

Jesus ascended into heaven, there to prepare a place for us, for His Ascension is but a type of our own. Also He will come again to take us to Himself and introduce us into His Father’s kingdom.

He went up to heaven to proclaim the dogma we sing every day of this Octave in the Credo; “I believe in the Holy Ghost, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son.” And it is from heaven above that He, with the Father, is about send us the Holy Ghost.

He went up to Heaven because glorified human nature requires such a place of glory as heaven.

You can find my past Ascensiontide posts by searching for “Ascension”  on the search page listed in the side bar.