News

Patron Saint of Peace

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Happy Feast of St. Norbert who is the patron saint of peace and the founder of the Norbertine Order.

Why the Patron Saint of Peace?

Well, one day while Norbert was traveling by horseback, he was struck by lightning and lay in a stupor for quite some time. Like Saul, he heard these words as spoken from the Lord: “Turn away from evil, and do good: seek after peace, and pursue it.”

That about sums up the Christian life!

For more information about the life of St. Norbert, visit the EWTN website or the Norbertines of St. Michael Abbey, Silverado, California..

General interest, News

Praying and Living For Priests

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What are the signs that it might be time for a contemplative community to pick up roots and move to another location? How about having a witches coven, nudist colony and New Age B&B as neighbors? Or maybe a gunshot through the chapel window on Holy Saturday? A mountain lion gazing in through the window? A storm that has demolished your greenhouse? All this happened to the Handmaids of the Precious Blood in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

Last month, the Sisters were pleased to announce their move to a new home in the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee. It is rather ironic that they have moved from traditionally Catholic land to the Protestant Bible Belt which is seeing an increasing number of Catholics. How wonderful that the people of east Tennessee will be able to see sisters in habits. This contemplative monastery is a first for the diocese. There are 18 professed sisters with several in formation.

I am happy to say that the IRL played a part in this happy marriage between the diocese and the sisters. It was at an IRL event that Mother Marietta met Bishop Richard Stika, the Bishop of Knoxville. Cardinal Raymond Burke and our Executive Director, Mike Wick, spread the word among the bishops that the sisters were contemplating a new home. At one point, they were communicating with 9 dioceses. After much discernment and prayer, the sisters were delighted to hear from Bishop Sticka who said that the diocese had been given a great gift and he was able to offer the sisters a home.

The Handmaids of the Precious Blood were founded in 1947 by Father Gerald M.C. Fitzgerald, sP, who opened his door one day to a homeless person only to discover that the man was a priest who had left the Church because of personal problems. This inspired him to found a religious order whose mission is to pray for the sanctification of all priests. Mother Marietta said, “These Sisters don’t just pray for priests, they live for them.” Their beautiful habits reflect their life of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. The wine red color symbolizes the Precious Blood and the white veil symbolizes the Eucharist.

Bishop Sticka said, “Their prayers and many sacrifices as a silent proclamation of the Gospel are the very “soul and leaven” of the Church’s evangelization efforts and works of mercy. Indeed, cloistered religious are truly indispensable co-workers in the mystery of redemption.”

See the complete story in the East Tennessee Catholic.

Liturgical Year

Journal of a Soul

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Today, the Church remembers Pope John XXIII who died on this date in 1963.  For a man who was devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is a wonderful coincidence that this year the date of his death falls during the week when the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This feast day is always celebrated 19 days after Pentecost, hence, it always falls on a Friday.This year it is celebrated on June 7th.

“It is to the Heart of Jesus that I dare go for the solution of all my problems.”

– Pope John XXIII in Journal of a Soul

The Holy Father had another devotion that was near and dear to his heart. Pope John wrote in an Apostolic Letter that his family used to recite the Litany in Honor of Jesus in His Most Precious Blood every day in July. On February 24, 1960, this devotion was promulgated by him for use by the whole Church. With this devotion, the bishops of the Church and all people are asked by St. Paul to remember: “Keep watch, then, over yourselves, and over God’s Church, in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops; you are to be the shepherds of that flock which He won for Himself at the price of His own Blood” (Acts 20:28). It is appropriate to recite this devotion on Corpus Christi and/or any other day when one would like to meditate on the Blood shed by Our Lord as the price for our salvation. It is fitting that we pray this Litany during the week following Corpus Christi and prior to the Sacred Heart. Both feasts are a vivid reminder of Who we are receiving into our hearts during Holy Communion.

On his deathbed, the Holy Father, Bl. Pope John XXIII was heard to whisper these words of Peter twice: “Lord, you know that I love you.”

Let us love Him too with our whole hearts.

 

Liturgical Year

St. Juliana, Saint of Corpus Christi

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This Sunday, at least in the Unites States, we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. As with all special feast days in the Church, this one has a special history that was highlighted by Pope Benedict XVI in a 2010 homily.

The impetus behind this celebration was St. Juliana de Cornillon (d. 1258) who as a young orphan lived with Augustinian Nuns in a convent where she later became a sister herself. Graced at the age of 16 with mystical visions, she saw a “moon in its full splendour, crossed diametrically by a dark stripe. The Lord made her understand the meaning of what had appeared to her. The moon symbolized the life of the Church on earth, the opaque line, on the other hand, represented the absence of a liturgical feast for whose institution Juliana was asked to plead effectively: namely, a feast in which believers would be able to adore the Eucharist so as to increase in faith, to advance in the practice of the virtues and to make reparation for offenses to the Most Holy Sacrament. ”

Bishop Robert Torote of Liège was the first to introduce the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in his diocese. Later other Bishops followed his example. Vision of St. JulianaPope Urban IV, the once Archdeacon of  Liège, in 1264 instituted the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Pentecost as a feast of  the universal Church. Pope Urban wrote, “Although the Eucharist is celebrated solemnly every day, we deem it fitting that at least once a year it be celebrated with greater honor and a solemn commemoration.”

This year, in fact, Pope Francis celebrated the feast on Thursday, May 30, 2013, while in the US we will celebrate it on Sunday, June 2, 2013. It was Pope Urban who asked St. Thomas Aquinas  to compose the texts of the Liturgical Office for this great feast which are still in use in the Church today. St. Julliana herself was canonized in 1869 by Pius IX.

Pope Benedict closed out his homily by saying : The Saints never failed to find strength, consolation and joy in the Eucharistic encounter. Let us repeat before the Lord present in the Most Blessed Sacrament the words of the Eucharistic hymn “Adoro te devote”: [Devoutly I adore Thee]: Make me believe ever more in you, “Draw me deeply into faith, / Into Your hope, into Your love”.

News

The Fruits of the Faith

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Christendom College is living proof that if you preach the Gospel and present the truths of the Catholic Faith, the fruits will be there. For the evidence, click here to see a list of the 137 vocations to the priesthood and religious  life that have come from their ranks. And let’s be real here – the college has only been in existence since 1977.

Amongst the communities listed that their graduates have entered are many IRL Affiliates, most notably the Nashville Dominicans who have welcomed 11 Christendom graduates and the Carmelite Monastery in Buffalo, New York who on May 26, celebrated the clothing ceremony of Christendom alumna Kathleen Gilbert (’07).  Taking the name Sr. Mary Magdalene of Jesus Crucified, Gilbert is the fifth Christendom graduate to enter that particular monastery.

The Carmelite Monastery of Buffalo was founded in 1920 by Mother Mary Elias of the Blessed Sacrament who narrowly escaped execution by firing squad by Mexican revolutionaries in 1914. As Mother and her companion knelt before the executioners, Mother prayed, “Little Therese, if you are a saint, as some people say you are, then deliver us, and I promise to found a Monastery in your honor.” Shots were fired and the nuns were left for dead. When they regained consciousness, they found themselves bloodied but completely unharmed. Mother went on to found the Buffalo Carmel and their chapel was dedicated to St. Therese of Lisieux on the very day of her canonization, May 17, 1925.

Inspired by the courageous example of our Mexican Mothers and the heroic virtue practiced by Saint Therese, we fervently aspire to follow the “Little Way” of spiritual childhood. We rejoice in numbering ourselves among the “army of little souls” whom she wanted to follow in her footsteps, repeating her ardent cry: To be Thy Spouse, O Jesus, and by my union with Thee, to be the mother of souls!

Men's communities, News

Pope Francis and the Franciscans

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When Pope Francis was elected and announced that he had taken the name of Francis, Father Michael Perry, now the new Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor said, “I physically started shaking because this man has taken the name of the person we hold as a model who calls us to live faithfully the Gospel. And I started thinking how short we fall sometimes in living the Gospel.”

The Holy Father has energized and challenged  the Franciscans by choosing the name of their venerable founder, St. Francis of Assisi. Pope Francis’ simple life of poverty and care for the poor and marginalized is causing the Franciscans to “to rediscover our own authenticity, and calling us to simplify our lives and to speak less and demonstrate more who we are.”

Father Perry was elected Minister General on May 22, 2013, the spiritual father to 14,000 Franciscans worldwide. The Indiana native said that St. Francis “brings us back to the very core of who we are as human beings. Francis is a convener of humanity, he helps people come together and see what really matters for their lives and that we can live together in peace, we can care for one another and we can care for our world.”

To see the whole article, visit the Catholic News Service.

News, Vocations

The Legacy of John Henry Cardinal Newman

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The stories that come out of college campus Newman Centers continue to inspire and astonish me. There are college campuses that are seedbeds of vocations (Thomas Aquinas College, Franciscan University at Steubenville and Christendom College come to mind) but it is hard to challenge the vocational record of an active Newman Center on a college campus. Newman Centers all over the country have many beautiful vocation stories, showing that students immersed in Catholic Life truly do discover and live the vocation that God has planned for them.

This past spring break, six students from the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska traveled all the way to Chicago to spend a week with the Little Sisters of the Poor. They served meals, drove residents to doctor’s appointments and generally just visited with the men and women that the sisters serve. One sophomore said the trip inspired her to attend daily Mass for the first time in her life. Another said the trip helped him to focus on the needs of others instead on “the me” and he felt happier and more at peace because of it. “We never expected” said a senior, “that we would build strong relationships with the sisters and the residents.”

At another Newman Center at Missouri Western State University, a then-freshman and her fellow “Newmanites” went to a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students-another great organization) conference where her faith was ignited and she seriously considered religious life for the first time. This past February, she joined the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara.

Take a look at the Witchita State Newman Center list of vocations. There are many priestly vocations, four women in religious life and one man who joined a Benedictine abbey.

Read this vocation story from a young man who attended the Newman Center at Oklahoma State University. Weekly events there included Monday night rosary, Tuesday night Bible study, Wednesday night student Mass, Thursday faith immersion, Friday free lunch, Saturdays of home football games, the students sold food for tailgating parties and Sunday night was Mass and dinner. God willing, this young man will be ordained in three years.

Another young man from the University of Illinois is now studying for the priesthood. At the Newman Center, he said, he found wonderful friends, priests, and religious that “I could never have dreamed existed.” St. John’s Catholic Newman Center is the only residential Newman Center in the country. Cardinal Francis George called it “one of the most important apostolates” in Illinois.

At Texas A&M University (see photo above) where there is the St. Mary’s Newman Center, 37 Aggies have entered formation for the priesthood and religious life in the past 4 years!

If you know of a young person who is planning to head to college, check out ones with strong Newman Centers. Their eternal life may depend upon it!

 

Women's Communities

Leaving the World for the Sake of the World

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Like unseen leaven in the world, cloistered contemplative Carmelites strive to foster a life of deep prayer and communion with God thus drawing all people closer to God.  As St. John of the Cross said: “The least action done out of pure love is worth more than all of the good works of the Church put together.” Fortunate is the country and diocese that has Carmelites praying for them!

The Founding Carmelites

It was 50 years ago today, May 27, 1963, that the Discalced Carmelites of St. Agatha, Ontario, moved into their new, permanent monastery, the Carmel of St. Joseph, from their smaller quarters in Kitchener, Ontario. Ten years earlier, they had arrived in Canada at the urgent invitation of the bishop to found the first English-speaking Carmel in Canada. As their numbers grew, the monastery was enlarged and as it continued to grow, a new foundation also under the guardianship of St. Joseph was established in British Columbia in 1991.

It seems amazing that there were no English-speaking Carmels in Canada until the 1950’s. The original sisters, three professed sisters and one novice, came from Cleveland Heights, OH, in 1952 from the Carmel of the Holy Family, a community who had recently sent 6 sisters to the Carmel in Kenya. The Carmel in Ohio traces its roots back to the first Carmel established in the United States in Port Tobacco, MD, in 1790.

One of the sisters in St. Agatha wrote that she was attracted to the Carmelite vocation after reading “The Story of a Soul” by St. Therese of Lisieux. She said, “During my 4 years at university, I have seen the tragedy of many who lived a lifestyle in the darkness of sin and refusal to love God, or even accept Him in their lives. I knew that those are the people who are in most need of prayer. I felt the urge to do something for them.” This woman is now following Christ’s example of prayer and sacrifice for the salvation of souls, for the Church and for all God’s people.

May those who “leave the world, leading a life of prayer and solitude, for the sake of the world” continue to intercede for the people of Canada.

News, Saints

A Powerhouse Saint

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The relics of St Anthony of Padua are on the move! Specifically on the move to several locations between Milwaukee and Chicago during June. The tour celebrates the 750th anniversary of the discovery of the relics by St. Bonaventure, then Minister General of the Friars Minor. I was fascinated to read that when St. Anthony’s body was exhumed and examined, it was found to be mostly bones and ashes with one amazing exception: his tongue was perfectly intact! St. Bonaventure exclaimed: “Oh blessed tongue, that ever praised the Lord, and led others to praise Him! Now it is clear how great are your merits before God!”

Why the tongue? Perhaps because St. Anthony was such a powerful and persuasive preacher who brought many into the faith. It was in September in the year 1222, that the young friar was suddenly thrust into the limelight when he was asked at the 11th hour to give a sermon that no one else was prepared to give. His eloquence and knowledge startled those in attendance and his quiet life was no more. In 1931, the seven-hundredth anniversary of his death, in recognition of his profound gifts to the Church, he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.

Franciscan scholar Sophronius Clasen,o.f.m., wrote: “Immediately after his death, Anthony became the object of an extraordinary devotion; and miracle followed miracle, as the prayers of the sick and afflicted were answered by sudden cures and other wonders. This set on foot a great wave of enthusiasm, and drew large crowds to his tomb, who began to honor him as a Saint even before the Pope had canonized him.” Today, he is still a miracle-worker and his name is invoked for lost articles and for all the poor and oppressed. Father Mario Conte, a Franciscan and executive editor of the Messenger of St. Anthony magazine in Padua who is traveling with the relics, said the exhibition is attracting large crowds. “Somehow,” he said, “people feel that St. Anthony is a friend, he is almost a member of their family, a brother. ”

We at the IRL are blessed to have the relics at Marytown in Libertyville, IL, from June 9th to the 10th.  On Sunday, the 9th, there will be vespers at 7:00 pm while on Monday, there will be day-long veneration of the relics and three masses will be celebrated. A beautiful gift for a loved one, living or deceased, is to enroll them in the the St. Anthony Holy Mass League, canonically established by the Conventual Franciscan Friars in 1937. Mass is offered daily all members with a special remembrance on Tuesdays, in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. This tour and the people who come seeking his intercession is a powerful reminder of what a powerhouse of a friend we have in heaven.

News, Papal Address

The Winds of the Holy Spirit

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The older theologians used to say that the soul is a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which fills its sails

and drives it forward,and the gusts of wind are the gifts of the Spirit.

Lacking His impulse and His grace, we do not go forward.

The Holy Spirit draws us into the mystery of the living God

and saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself;

He impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel,

to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ. The Holy Spirit is the soul of mission.

Pope Francis

Pentecost Sunday