Rosary reply

Dear Sister,

Your experience with the Rosary, prompts me to jot down a few thoughts that have been revolving in my head for some years. Ever since hearing the story of Fatima, the Rosary has been my life-line. For more than sixty years I have prayed the Rosary as many as three times a day. However I have never become obsessive about it. If I’m tired or unwell, I am content to simply rest in the Lord. I never liked the idea: You must. That kind of thing tends to become musty!

The late Fr.Conleth Kearns whose wisdom we all treasure, told me about St. Catherine of Siena. When moved to do so, she would drop her Paternoster beads and just rest in the Spirit. When the time came she would resume the bidding of her beads. I felt welcome to the club, as indeed I welcome you likewise.

Once when researching the history of the Rosary, in San Clemente, I came across an ancient and rare book entitled: Le Triple Rosaire, where the author, Pere Bernard of Toulouse referred to the three stages of attention in prayer:
To the words,

to the thoughts and

to the presence or the person.

Something of the kind happens in ordinary conversation: When we are with strangers, words seem necessary and we are careful about how we choose them. With friends or colleagues we exchange thoughts of business or pleasure. But with the Beloved our heart, it is enough to sit in silence. Being totally present to each other is what matters.

On visiting the Carmel where Sr. Elizabeth of the Trinity lived, I was told by some of her community, that the saint could not cope with the Rosary, as it did not sit well with her contemplative spirit. I believe that the Little Flower also found it a difficult prayer to manage. So, dear Sr. you are indeed in high company! Only,-- I would invite you to take the pressure off. It is not that you can’t think or concentrate or even meditate. It is that you are gone beyond those stages. Listen to Pere Bernard: "When summoned to the royal court, do not dally along the corridors and antechambers looking at pictures of King, but walk calmly on into his presence."

Much of this wisdom has come back to me, since getting involved with the John Main meditation Group here in Tallaght. Here, they instruct us to put aside all words, all images, all thoughts—even holy ones. We are to just sit still and silently interiorly recite the prayer word.

This enlightenment came to me at the time I was taken off the Apostolate of the Rosary which had filled out over fifty years of my life. I was feeling bereft and bereaved, as indeed many must feel at a time of upheaval in life. I felt as if on the scrap-heap. As Bernadette of Lourdes remarked when the visions were over and she found herself in Nevers, it was “as if she were a broom now finished with and left behind the door.”

I found it hard to concentrate and could not get beyond the first words of the Our Father:
Thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. My own name mattered no more.My kingdom was over. My will had been thwarted. That is how it was, and perhaps how it was meant to be for so that I might have my own dark night experience. I could appreciate the lot of so many who were undergoing change or becoming redundant. The very pronoun— Thy was all I could manage and yet it was all that mattered now. For the past six years, it has become my prayer word, my mantra!

I have rediscovered the Rosary, as Pere Bernard taught it. I take up the beads each morning and pray the first Joyful mystery, slowly and almost silently, leaving myself open to the Lord’s Annunciation for this day. I do indeed say the Our Father and the ten Hail Marys, but they take a long time. All the while I linger in love over those words that are now engraved in my heart: Thy name, Thy kingdom, Thy will. I never venture out without my beads—heaven and the history of my heart locked together in my pocket. When the time is right, I pray the other mysteries. But deep down there is only one mystery -- the mystery of the Divine presence.

Looking again to the John Main experience, I observe that following the example of their mentor, there is usually a teaching at the beginning of each session, when direction is given. At the end of the formal instruction, one is told to put even these sacred thoughts aside and enter into the apophatic stillness. If one takes this model on board, it would seem that in the Rosary, it might be wise, to at first pause and ponder the particular mystery of the Divine Humanity. Then pick up the beads and use the vocal prayers as a kind mantra, while resting in the void and not trying to think of the detail of mystery being celebrated. Certainly it is not so much a thinking in the head as a lingering in the heart.

In many of the Eastern forms of prayer, meditation is accompanied with the use of beads. For myself, when I meditate morning and evening as suggested by John Main, I hold the beads in my hand or around the neck. The very sense of touch gives an added dimension of presence to the person. It is something to hold on to, and in the full Christian sense, it is someone to hold on to.

Dear Sr. I hope I have not wearied you with all that I have set down here. Those who like to get prayers said, who in a sense have the lust for getting finished are in one camp and those who want just to linger in love are in another. It is like the distinction between those who go in for spiritual exercise and those who simply opt to sit in the sun and get well. There are the two spiritualities and perhaps we need a dose of both medicines.

I have enclosed the Brochure of Retreats in Tallaght, as Fr. Donagh O’Shea, the Director has invited me to conduct a Summer Retreat around the ideas floated to you in this letter. If you can help out with any of your own insights they will be most welcome. It is your
query that has already prompted me to set something on paper.

Lourdes Novena

I have been invited to conduct the Three days of Prayer in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Black Abbey, Kilkenny: 9th, 10th and 11th of February. Here is something of which I hope share:

I once received a delightful invitation to a friend’s house party. It read:
"Don’t bring anything—just yourself." When I hesitated, the reply came back: “No need to dress up. Come as you are. No gifts or presents—just your presence.” The distinction may not be clear in speech. So let me spell it out: Not PRESEN-TS but PRESEN-CE

It is this presence of Our Lady, that makes Lourdes so special. There are prayers and processions, cries of petition from priests and people. But it is the presence of Mary herself in the Grotto that touches the heart and draws the teeming thousands from all parts of the world. We have prayers to say and things to ask for, but may I suggest to you that the most helpful attitude to adopt, is simply to be still and attentive to the persons of Jesus and Mary. To acknowledge their presence and to be totally present to them.

St Thomas speaks of three degrees of attentiveness in prayer.
1 To the words we say,
2 To the thoughts and desires behind the words,
3 To the Person in whose presence we are.

In this regard, Bernadette proves herself a trustworthy guide.
She too tells us three things:
The Lady looked at me.
She smiled at me
And said: Come closer

She stated that the Lady looked at her and that she in return looked steadfastly at the Lady in the Grotto. People observed this look, this silent gaze into the unseen and secret place and asked: "Did the Lady look at anyone else but yourself ? "

The child replied:
"Yes indeed she did. She looked all around the crowd and she stopped at some as if they were old familiar friends.

Mary is ever faithful to the royal command she received from the Cross: Woman—look thee is your son. Mary has been faithful to that task down the ages and you can be sure that she is exercising that very same mission on our behalf here and now. We in turn continue the work of the disciple: We behold our Mother. While we take up our beads and say your prayers and think over its mysteries, deeper and closer than anything we may say or think, lies this beholding, the simple attention to the heavenly person.

May we be among those familiar friends at whom Our Lady looks with eyes of compassion: Hail Holy Queen turn your eyes of mercy towards us. Lourdes is indeed the smile of heaven, that encourages to look and come closer.

Celibacy- a Way of Loving

A Celibate way of Loving-- my testimony

There are many today crying out for the abolishment of Celibacy as a way of living for the Catholic clergy. They say it leads to loneliness, to frustration and to sexual abuse. Might I add something of my own experience to the debate.

It came as a light in the darkness to discover that in Christian terms celibacy is not to be seen as a restriction, but as one of the charismatic gifts which has its source in divine love. Unless it continues to drink from that well-spring of grace, it may indeed be a legalistic burden and we might as well abandon it. The priest who is frustrated and angry with what he perceives as a mere legal requirement for priesthood is on a road to nowhere.

It may as well be noted that celibacy is not a way for religious and clergy only. The unmarried are bound by this same condition, and if married people are to live by the strict rule of their Church, they find themselves having to abstain from sexual intercourse for certain and often long periods of their lives. So this is a far wider issue than one might at first sight think. And over all this range of living,-- love and relationship must prevail.

Celibate clergy think of themselves as signposts to the Kingdom of God, pointing out the heavenly way. But they must not be wooden signposts with wooden hearts. Priests should be Princes of love showing a way to relationship that is at once totally human and authentically divine.

Christian celibacy lays down a clear distinction between sexuality and genitality. The celibate person is of course a sexual being and is called to rejoice in the wonder of his being, but with the grace of God and the discipline of a maturity, he does not stray into the area of genital sex. The lives of several Catholic saints tell of beautiful and holy celibate relationships between people like Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal. Look up that delightful book: To Heaven with Diana -- the story of the two Dominicans, Jordan of Saxony, the successor of St Dominic and Blessed Diana. When he travelled to preach the Gospel, Jordan carried Diana in his heart and longed to get back to her. His love for her enabled him to be a loving presence to all he met on the way.

To everyone, single or married, cleric or lay, applies the basic text of Scripture: It is not good for man to be alone. That sacred word seems to go contrary to the one so many priests heard in the seminary: Nunquam solus cum sola-- Never be found alone with a woman!

A Dominican Provincial, Fr. Damian Byrne now gone from this world told me that he was fed up with alcoholics and workaholics under his care and wished that every of them had a good woman of God in their lives. Before all the world, I confess that while being madly in love with my Lord Jesus and rejoicing in my celibacy, I make no secret of the fact that God has sent such a woman into my life. And because of her, I love and relate to all others in an ever more delightful way. Because of her, I love the wider commuity and experience being loved by others in a holy and wholesome new way.Cherchez la femme. -- Look out for the woman should no longer strikes a note of trouble, but be seen as divine command and bring with it a fruitful blessing!

Some time ago, wanting to develop the above theme, I had the nerve to write a book entitled: A Celibate way of Loving. Not being able to compose a whole treatise, like St. Francis de Sales, I hit on the idea of putting it in the form of short pieces with the subheading: Letters to the Beloved. If you can't find it in he bookshops, I would happily send you a copy. Contact me at: The Dominican Priory, Tallaght Village, Dublin 24, Ireland or at: 15 Brett Ave. Lurgan Northern Ireland BT66 6HZ

The Souls of our Departed Legionaries

Handbook:Page 103

As we prayed around the grave of Fr. Herman, the much loved Spiritual director of this Curia, I mused that: More than most perhaps, Legionaries pray: Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. The Handbook reminds us that “through all eternity—Legion membership will last. ‘Now at last confirmed in Legionary service.”
What a tribute! What a reward! Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.

In one of his talks on the subject of Death and the hereafter, Frank Duff asks himself why people are afraid of death. It must be he suggests they are motivated by fear rather than by the goodness and the love of God. They may too think that heaven excludes the pleasures they knew here on earth and that all there will be to do in heaven is to play harps and sing hymns. “I have to confess,” he says that if I were thrown back on these employments, I would not feel any attraction to Heaven myself. I cannot join any more in that popular item; I’ll sing a hymn to Mary, because I have now sung it ten thousand times and I’m tired of it.”

From his experience in the Morning Star Hostel, he discovered that the men there might not have thought heaven to be a place they feel at home in. He came across a group of them looking at the notice board with the record of the former residents who had died: One of those peering at the list cried out: “If all them fellas is up in heaven, it must be a hell of rough joint !”

Frank goes on to say that anything that gave us real joy here on earth will be present in heaven but in a higher and more refined and beautiful manner than we could ever dream of. He places particular stress on the ardent longing to meet our beloved ones again. “We will embrace our again in a union that will never cease or grown stale--- no distress or departure—nothing but a blissful encounter that will last for all eternity.

The final remark Frank makes is indicative of his understanding of the divine power that he brought to bear on his own Legionary service here on earth, and which he holds out to every true Legionary: We will see all, know all, have all. We will be able to do all, because living in God we will be given entry into his power. We will play with his power as a child would play with toys.

Frank Duff was once asked how to be a good Legionary. His reply was: first study the Handbook of the Legion. If you want to do good through the Legion, you must first know it. You cannot work the system unless you understand it. The Handbook is a short document. You could get through it quickly. Imagine any student being told that he can learn all the essentials of his science in about 300 pages. In one week he would have it off by heart.

Imbibe not only the doctrine but the mentality of the Legion” He frequently spoke of Veronica O’Brien, Secretary to Archbishop Suenens, who was given a copy of the Handbook. She took it with her to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and sat before the Blessed Sacrament and read it from beginning to end.

Secondly, Frank said: “Concentrate on a faithful service to your praesidium. Make the work assigned to you a further means of understanding the doctrine. The doctrine is the root the work is the flower. They cannot be separated. The doing of the work must be a deliberate practice of the doctrine.

When you have become a faithful member do something, that may seem to be really drastic. Go on the Peregrinatio pro Christo. Give up a holiday and your holiday-money to a Legionary enterprise. When you have been through one such venture as that you are a changed person. You will have learned the grave need there is for people to do apostolic work and you will have learned your own power. You will realise your capacity.”

With regard to officership in the Legion, Frank has very strong words. “They should get their priorities right and enquire if the things which prevent their becoming officers are so important that they should be given precedence. They should make the time for what is notable and important.

How often one hears it said: If you want a job done, ask a busy person. Becoming an officer however, is more than a matter of taking on a job. It is a vocation -- a distinct call from above. It is at once a privilege and a response to God. One should respond to it as Mary did, saying: Behold the Handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word. And one can expect the answer from above: Well done good and faithful servant. Because you have been faithful in small things, I will set you over greater things. Enter into the joy of your Master.

The Covenant heart of the Eucharist

It is the term Covenant that is most deeply rooted in Scripture and that opens up so much breath of spirituality for our souls. It furnishes too, a high and wide horizon for the apostolate.
That is why I have chosen to write these lines for my allocutio to the Legion of Mary.

At the consecration of the chalice, the priest says: This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. That echoes Moses' words in ratifying the ancient Mt. Sinai Covenant. Behold the blood of the Covenant!
Exodus. 24:7-8
Then he (Moses) took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words

At Mass, we express that same obedience and response to the covenant when we say Amen. When the host is offered and we say Amen, what we are doing is saying our Yes to the Covenant in his blood. This goes beyond the mere reception of a gift. There is a mutual self-giving at the heart of the Sacrament.

No need to be afraid of the term Covenant: Rather, must it be one that comforts and assures us: As we read in Exodus; 19:3-5: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.

Covenant comes from the Latin and means coming together, bonding as in marriage: In marriage we have the sharing of gifts and possessions-- this gold and silver, I thee give. But going deeper, it is an exchange and sharing of persons. This is my Body given up for you.

A covenant is not imposed. It has to agreed and entered into. In the Eucharist not only does Christ offer Himself freely and fully, but we are called to reciprocate with the same gift of self. In receiving the Christ's Body in the Eucharist we are entering into a covenant, agreeing to reciprocate that gift. When Jesus gives His body, blood, soul and divinity to us, we give our body, blood, soul and humanity to Him.

The Secret of Meditation

Our Lady gave an interesting instruction to the Children of Fatima-- one that is often overlooked: She said: Learn to read and then I’ll tell you what else I want. Implicit in that statement is a call to read the Scriptures, the living word of God. One of the great sources of the divine healing is the life-giving word of God. Take one of the quotations below and ponder it in your heart. You could spend the whole time of prayer, simply turning one of these sacred words or phrases over in the silence of your heart. This is the secret of meditation.

Perfect love casts out fear. 1 Jo.4:18

Abide in my love Jo.15,10

Those who love me... my Father will love them

and we will come to them

and make our home with them. Jo.14,23

Know that I am with you always:

yes, even to the end of time. Mat. 28.20

With God all things are possible. Mk. 10:27

Cast all your care upon Him,

for he cares for you. 1 Pet. 5: 7

Come to me, all you who labour

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest. Mat.11 :28

Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

Be it done unto me

according to your word. Lk.1.38

My heart is not proud, O Lord,

my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord

both now and for evermore. Ps.131