All posts by Anne Tschanz

Liturgical Year

An Ancient Spirituality

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Oldest Known Dominican Missal, Lausanne Monastery

There are many ancient Rites still in use in the Church today which gives us a beautiful glimpse into the spirituality of our ancient forebears. The Dominican Rite is one of the most fascinating. I was prompted to look more deeply into it today because at morning mass on this Feast of St. Dominic, the priest said that it is a tradition for Dominicans to process with the processional cross facing backwards. This allows the friars and the priests to “gaze upon the cross.”

The Dominican Rite came about due to the rapid growth of the Order and the need for a uniform liturgical spirit to bind the preachers together. Today, we are used to the Roman Rite being the norm for most of Catholicism. You can imagine as the local churches were built up in the early Church and communications were lacking, that many geographically-oriented and community-unique rites came into existence and flourished.

The Dominican Rite was codified in 1256 and remained in use until 1968, when the Roman Rite of Mass and of the Liturgy of the Hours was adopted. Today, the Dominican Rite may be used with the permission of the master of the order or the local provincial. Other orders have their specific rites with the same stipulations such as the Carmelites, Cistercians and Norbertines. The Carthusian Rite, however, is different and is celebrated as the norm by this congregation.

The Eastern Province of the Order of Preachers (Dominican Province of St. Joseph) has this beautiful reflection on the unique place of this Rite in their spirituality and rich heritage:

The Dominican Rite’s relative sobriety and simplicity likewise gives evidence of the antiquity of its sources.  It has nourished the greatest saints of the Order, many of whom – including St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Vincent Ferrer – have written extensively of the Dominican Rite’s unique beauty and theological depth.  It is therefore a genuine source of the tradition of the Order, and a privileged means by which to enter into the original spirit of St. Dominic’s friars.

To order a CD of Gregorian Chant: Dominican Liturgy, click here.

News

Vocations and Commitment

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Sr. Jeanette Marie, the Vocation Directress for the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, was heartened as she said to hear the Holy Father, Pope Francis, describe one of the things that prevents young people from entering religious life. The issue is Commitment!

As everyone knows, the popularity of marriage is in a steep decline. People live together and then move on. It used to be said that “I am living with him/her to see if marriage is in the cards” which it usually wasn’t. Now it is: “I am living with him/her until the next him/her comes along.”

This problem casts its long shadow on religious life and vocational discernment. A religious vocation is to eternity. Sr Jeanette wrote that we live in a culture that fails to see the good of making a lifetime commitment; a culture that says, “I will choose this vocation provided that everything goes OK.”

In his talk, Pope Francis said, “To become priests [or] Religious – is not primarily our choice. I don’t trust the seminarian, the novice who says: ‘I have chosen this path.’ I don’t like this. It’s not right! But it is the response to a call and to a call of love. I hear something within me, which makes me restless, and I answer yes. The Lord makes us feel this love in prayer, but also through so many signs that we can read in our life, so many persons that He puts on our path.”

Sr. Jeanette  believes that there are three things you can do to come to a decision about religious life:

  • learn about religious life and celibacy
  • pray about your vocation, seeking the guidance of your parents and spiritual advisors
  • plan to arrive at a firm commitment towards your calling – before it’s too late!

The Mercedarian sisters will have a discernment retreat for young women October 11-13, 2013, in Baton Rouge, LA. Now is the time to test your commitment to follow the Lord in faith!

 

 

 

 

Cloistered life, Papal Address

Entrustment to Mary

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On this feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major which Pope Francis visited on the eve of his departure for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, it seems appropriate to post the counsel he gave to seminarians, novices and those discerning a vocation in a gathering held on July 7, 2013:

I entrust you to the intercession of Mary Most Holy.

She is the Mother who helps us to take life decisions freely and without fear.

May she help you to bear witness to the joy of God’s consolation,

without being afraid of joy,

she will help you to conform yourselves to the logic of love of the Cross,

to grow in ever deeper union with the Lord in prayer.

Then your lives will be rich and fruitful! Amen.

With cloistered Nuns in Rio de Janeiro

Men's communities

Our Lady of the Angel’s Brothers

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Today is the foundation anniversary of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace who were founded in 1982 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the first community of brothers to come into existence in the archdiocese. Their founder, Brother Michael Gaworski, fbp, was very active in the pro-life movement, and with Brother Paul O’Donnell, fbp, founded Pro-Life Action Ministries.

It was while attending the 1982 Notre Dame Charismatic Renewal Conference that a “prophetic word,” as their website says, was given as thus: “I am calling many of you to embrace a life of celibacy for My Kingdom. But you say you have looked and there are no places for you to go. I tell you that I am raising up new convents, monasteries and communities for you to enter. Go home and ponder these words.”

Just in his early twenties, Brother Michael took the initial steps which in 1986 led to the community of brothers being recognized as a Private Association of the Faithful and in 1994, as a Public Association of the Faithful. In 1991, Brother Michael contracted bacterial pneumonia which left him a quadriplegic with severe brain damage. A suffering servant for the brother’s many ministries to the poor, he died on August 28, 2003.

On May 10 of this year, their long-awaited desire to establish a Spiritual Center, a place of prayer and retreat for the brothers as a respite from their urban ministries, came into fruition. In Finland, Minnesota, Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth consecrated the oratory of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels. They hope one day to have several brothers permanently residing living a semi-eremitical life surrounded by the beauty of Superior National Forest.

The brothers are growing and hope one day to have the 40 members necessary to become a religious institute. As it is, their current friary housing 14 brothers is running out of room. If you can support them, please go to their website to find out how you can help with their expanding (a good problem to have!) apostolate to the poor.

Brother Paul advises young men who are interested in their way of life to Pray about a vocation to the religious life and seek spiritual direction. Vocations mostly come from real people with real families, not everyone is a perfect saint. Disregard thoughts of unworthiness. We are all unworthy, the Holy Spirit is the guiding force. Do not be afraid to make a commitment and put your trust in the Lord.

 

Saints

A Saintly Humility

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All founders of new religious institutes undergo severe trials as the community root’s are established but none can seem to top the anguish of today’s saint, St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), bishop and founder of the Redemptorists (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer).

To put it briefly, St. Alphonsus was tricked, due to his old age, infirmities and trust in his advisors, into signing a modified rule which eliminated or changed the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and perseverance. When he learned the truth of what he had signed, he wept bitter tears. Pope Pius VI, believing in Alphonsus’ complicity, ordered Alphonsus at age 86 to be expelled from his own congregation.

Ironically, Alphonsus was beatified by the same pope, an investigation having cleared Alphonsus’ good name. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1781 and is acclaimed as one of the Church’s greatest Moral and Marian theologians. In art, he is often depicted hunched over because he suffered from severe rheumatism. His congregation flourished after this death and today they number over 5000 priests and brothers around the globe who bring the Good News to the abandoned poor.

He appropriately said, “Persecutions are to the works of God what the frosts of winter are to plants. Far from destroying them, they allow them to strike their roots deeper in soil and make them more full of life. What really injures religious orders and brings the plant to decay like a worm gnawing at the root are voluntary sins and shortcomings. So let us put an end to these imperfections, let us correct ourselves, and God will protect us. The more violently persecution rages, the more closely must we become attached to Jesus Christ.”

Saints

Anima Christi

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St. Ignatius of Loyloa

SOUL of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds, hide me.
Separated from Thee let me never be.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
At the hour of death, call me,
To come to Thee, bid me,
That I may praise Thee in the company
Of Thy Saints, for all eternity.

Amen

News

The Mother of Mercy Calls Us!

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This month’s issue of Religious Life magazine is devoted in good part to the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States – the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin. Our Lady appeared to Adele Brise in 1859 and told her to teach the children their catechism and about the sacramental life of the Church. “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”

in 2009, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay opened a two-year inquiry into the apparitions. He found that they exhibited a supernatural character and were worthy of belief. The other important act was the entrusting of the Fathers of Mercy as guardians of the shrine. They have seen the number of pilgrims increase from 25,000 a year in 2010 to about 200,000 a year in 2011!

The shrine offers daily mass, confession, spiritual direction, anointing of the sick, meeting rooms for groups, a new cafe (it is pretty remote), and other devotions. It is unlike other apparition shrines in that the countryside looks much as it did 150 years ago. There are no shops, restaurants or secular establishments to speak of anywhere nearby with the exception of a few farms. Hence, it is a beautiful place for quiet reflection.

Fr. Peter Stryker, C.P.M., the Rector of the Shrine, in commenting on the value of their Fathers’ work at the shrine quoted from a 1955 book on the shrine’s history in which it said:

There must be a grave reason and great need for Mary to come so often in our generation. There are great dangers threatening us…these are hurling humanity down the precipice of ruin and destruction….Mary would remind us of the value of suffering, the necessity of sacrifice, and the mercy of our Savior.

Fr. Stryker says that we all have the responsibility to open the door of faith to our family, friends and neighbors. This Year of Faith and the Holy Father’s words at World Youth Day have the same message: Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

And as someone who has been to the shrine, I am happy to be reminded of what a pilgrimage is all about.  Regardless of what we may experience there, a pilgrimage is still, in the words of Father Stryker, “an outward sign of our desire to be on a safe path regarding our ultimate pilgrimage: our journey toward heaven as our true and eternal home!”

 

 

 

 

News, Papal Address

Go and Make Disciples

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Jesus did not say: “if you would like to, if you have the time,” but: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Sharing the experience of faith, bearing witness to the faith, proclaiming the Gospel: this is a command that the Lord entrusts to the whole Church, and that includes you; but it is a command that is born not from a desire for domination or power but from the force of love, from the fact that Jesus first came into our midst and gave us, not a part of Himself, but the whole of Himself, He gave His life in order to save us and to show us the love and mercy of God.

 Krakow 2016

 

 

News

A Century Plus of Zoe

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In 2011, we published an article in Religious Life called “A Century of Zoe” which was the vocation story of Mother Teresa Margaret, foundress of the Carmelite Monastery in Traverse City, Michigan. Baptized with the name Zoe, she said that she never liked the name, thinking it not Catholic enough, until she read that Father John Hardon said that Zoe means sanctifying grace in Greek.

Well, on May 26, 2013, Zoe went to meet, face to face, her heavenly spouse. She had been a cloistered nun for 83 years! She died at the age 101 and had entered the Grand Rapids Carmel when she was 18 years old.

Zoe Julia Armstrong was born in Ohio in 1911. When she first wrote to her first Carmel and received the answer back that they were full and to try elsewhere, she wrote back and said, is anybody going to die soon? She was full of spunk. When she entered the Grand Rapids Carmel, she was so excited that she grasped “old Mother Bernadita” in her arms and spun her around! Zoe had a rough go at first but said, “No I’m not going to go. I’m going to become what they want me to be, to prove my love to Him!”

In all challenges, Mother said we have to remember, “God wouldn’t ask this of me if He didn’t intend to help me with it.”

According to her sisters, Mother transitioned from vigorous activity to old age with remarkable gracefulness.  Until her brief final illness, she participated in all the activities of her religious community.

Requiesce in pace.

 

 

News

Like Father, Like Son

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When Father Patrick Allen was ordained by Most Rev. Robert Guglielmone of Charleston on July 7th, his young son Henry wanted to share that moment with his father. What a beautiful picture!

Fr. Allen attended a Presbyterian Seminary but then became attracted to Anglo-Catholicism. He was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 2001. His pilgrimage of faith ultimately led him and 19 other “pilgrims” into the Catholic Church. They are part of the Corpus Christi Catholic Community, part of the “Anglican Ordinariate,” which meets in St. Mary of the Annunciation in downtown Charleston, SC.

For a complete list of communities, parishes and religious communities belonging to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, as it is officially called, please visit their website.

“All things that are good and pure and true in the Anglican church have a home in the Catholic Church,” Allen says. Welcome home, fellow pilgrims.

For the complete story, see the article in The Post and Courier.