Rosary Priest

Seeds of life

2011-01-04T04:22:00.000-08:00

It may come as a surprise to you, to know that in the original Mass of the Rosary as celebrated by Dominicans, the Gospel text is that of the Sower who goes out to cast seed on the earth. Much of the seed comes to nothing as it falls on bad ground. But the seed planted on good soil brings forth a rich harvest. Jesus was speaking of how the word of God should be received. The picture with these thoughts was sent to me by two good friends from the USA-- Barbara and Stephen. They have produced several superb pictures illustrating the hands of Priests and Preachers.

The early Dominicans saw the Rosary as a practical and fruitful way the Mysteries of the Kingdom. They would have been conscious of the words Jesus added to the Parable of the Sower: To you is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom. For them, the Rosary was the Gospel on its knees. The Hail Mary-- at least the first part of it is nothing more, nothing less that a proclamation of the Good News that the Lord is with each one of us-- as he is with Mary. Praying the Rosary, might be compared to turning over the pages of the Gospels and taking them to heart.
email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

The Lost Treasure of the Rosary Confraternity

2010-11-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

Dominicans of an earlier time preached a deep spirituality that underpinned the Confraternity of the Rosary. The term Confraternity does not always enjoy the respect and dignity that this Brother/Sisterhood deserves.

St. Louis Marie de Montfort who was singled out by the Master of the Dominican Order for his preaching of the Rosary lamented the fact that in his day, there was no true Confraternity of the Rosary. This led him to propose his own Treatise on the True Devotion to Mary. His end product which lay hidden for many years is a recall to the original thrust of the Golden Rosary years of the Dominican Friars.
Much literature and many websites are still repeating the Holy Algebra approach to the Confraternity. They set down a list that says do this and get that--say these prayers and gain these benefits. Fine, as far as it goes, but the truth is that this approach lacks spiritual depth. To get to the deep waters one has to go back centuries and pick up what many seem to have forgotten. De Montfort refers to the golden days of Alan de la Roche, who proclaimed the Holy Slavery of Jesus and Mary in the chain of the Rosary. One can see from where De Montfort drew his terminology.
William Pepin, in his work, Salutate Mariam, republished by the Dominican Rosary Centre in Santa Maria Novella, Florence opens up a whole wonderland of teaching in regard to the Confraternity of the Rosary. He uses the parable of the Prodigal to explain how one should live out the true spirit of a Brother/Sister of the Rosary. ‘ Listen,’ he says ‘to the Father who says to the Elder Brother: All that I have is thine. Lk:15,31. A true elder member of the Confraternity entrusts all that he is and all that he has to Jesus and Mary and responds to their gracious response: Beloved all that I have is yours. Take it and use it in the service of the whole Rosary family.

A true elder member of the Rosary Confraternity must not be jealous or even like the younger brother looking for his own share of the property. He must be willing to rejoice with and celebrate the others. Since all that the Father has is his, he himself has the right and indeed the obligation to put the robe of mercy on his brother’s back, the shoes on his feet and the ring of union on his finger. These are covenant terms and they symbolise the covenant of love and mercy that should pertain between the members.

Becoming a member of the Confraternity implies both a Contract and a Covenant. A contract is an exchange of goods or services. A Covenant goes further and implies an exchange of persons. The prayers to be said and the indulgences to be gained—the exchange of goods, as it were, point to the contract. They are the external and secondary practices. But the inner soul of the society goes beyond a simple contract to reach the heights of a sacred covenant. Both find expression in the words of commitment: I am all yours and all I have is yours.

A member with this rich understanding of the Rosary Confraternity gives up existing out of his own meagre ration. He enters the treasure–house of the King and lives out of his infinite supply. A member of this True Rosary Confraternity is no longer waiting in the dole-queue of his own poverty or giving out of his own begging bowl. In keeping with the Book of Revelation: 3:21 - The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne... the true elder member is seated on the throne and acts with the authority of the royal household behind him. Such a one reaches out to bless others with a boldness that moves mountains with an expectant faith the works even miracles.

Before ever members of the Confraternity meet to form a formal gathering or sodality, there is a depth of spirituality that needs to be unearthed. It is a lost treasure that lies deep in our Dominican tradition. I believe the time has come to reclaim and proclaim it.
www.rosarium.op.org
worldpriest.com Click on Daily Prayer
Blog: http://blogrosary.blogspot.com
Email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

Confessional Chapel Knock

2010-11-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

The weather in Knock on this 11th of November 2010 is wild and windy. Yet still the silence subsists beneath the blustery day. I have been hearing Confessions and just snapped the attached picture of the lovely wood-carving that dominates the Confessional Chapel. Both Our Lady and St. John embrace the dead Christ that they may find the grace of the new life that is born of his death.

Please know that throughout the day I am here, I am holding you in my heart and in my prayers, as dear St. Paul wrote to his listeners long ago.
If you want to contact me, here is my email : hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

At the Shrine of Our Lady, Knock

2010-11-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

I have been asked to supply here at Our Lady's Shrine, Knock in the West of Ireland. The work is light and there is plenty time to sit and look. Looking and lingering in love is very much part of the spirit of this place. After all, there were no words spoken during the Apparition and the splendour of Knock is its silence. Sitting silently in the Shrine at the gable end of the church, one is led to be still during the prayer of the Rosary. I like to stop for a considerable time between the decades and just look at the Lamb on the altar and at the other figures to the side.

My old friend, Pere Bernard of Toulouse comes to my aid. Remembering what he wrote some hundred years ago, I cease looking at the pictures and statues in the King's throne room and prefer to gaze at the King himself. In practice this means putting aside all complicated meditation and letting the vocal prayers resound like silver bells in the background. I learn to rest in the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. I may even stop fingering th beads-- only to take them up again as the Spirit moves me.

If you find this interesting or if you may want to question it, here is my email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

The Lost treasure of the Rosary Confraternity

2010-11-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I will move the earth. -- Archmides 220 BC.

In the Rosary we have a lever and in whatever place we stand with the beads in our hands we can build a brother/sisterhood that will move the world. This I know, is a mighty claim, but being old and bold, I dare to take my stand. The Brother/Sisterhood I have in mind is what I call the Confraternity of the Rosary.

I am tired of hearing that the Order of Preachers has no specific spirituality. A certain young friar remarked that the Jesuits have the Exercises of Ignatius and the Carmelites the Dark night, more lovely than the dawn, and asked what was characteristic of Dominican spirituality. He was told that the OP’s did not have anything special. They just lived the Gospel. The Novice master went on to illustrate the point, by saying that if you went to a Jesuit doctor, he would prescribe some pills or potions. But if you had recourse to a Dominican doctor, he would just say: Take a break or have a holiday in the sun! Fine! But let me quote from no less than the Holy Father, Pius X1 The Rosary of Mary is the principle and foundation on which the very Order of Saint Dominic rests for making perfect the life of its members and obtaining the salvation of others." Quoted by Robert Feeney, a lay Dominican, author of "The Rosary: The Little Summa

De Monroy a Master of the Order made the strong statement that The Holy Rosary is the fairest flower of our Order. Should it come to pass that this flower withers, simultaneously the beauty and lustre of our Institute is seen to fade and disappear. And on the other hand, when that flower revives, forthwith it draws down on us the heavenly dew, imparts to our stem an aroma of grace and causes it to bring forth, as from a root of piety, fruits of virtue and of honour.’ If that does not offer a lever and a place to stand, I don’t know what does.

The Dominicans of an earlier time preached the deep spirituality that underpinned the Brother/Sisterhood of the Rosary. I put it like that, because the term Confraternity does not always enjoy the respect and dignity it deserves. Interestingly enough St. Louis Marie de Montfort who was singled out by the Master of the Dominican Order for his preaching of the Rosary, lamented the fact that in his day, there was no true Confraternity of the Rosary. This led him to propose his own Treatise on the True Devotion to Mary. His end product which lay hidden for many is more or less a recall to the original thrust of the Golden Rosary years of Dominican Friars.

Having looked at the numerous Rosary Websites from all over the world, I am saddened that they are still repeating what I call the Holy algebra approach to the Confraternity. They are simply setting down a list that says do this and get that--say these prayers and gain these benefits. It is alright as far as it goes, but the truth is that is a sandwich with no meat inside. To get to the meat you have to go back centuries and pick up what Dominicans of our time seem to have have forgotten. De Montfort refers to the golden days of Alan de la Roche and Michael de Insulis. Alan had written of the Holy Slavery of Jesus and Mary in the chain of the Rosary. One can see from where De Montfort drew his terminology.

As to the De Insulis who is frequently quoted in publications prior to De Montfort, I searched for him in many quarters in Italy but could not unearth his work. Arriving at the National Library in Paris, and remembering that his French name was Francois de Lille, I found several copies his writings. The copy I was given was ornately illustrated, like a miniature Book of Kells. On inquiring why there was nothing of his work in Italy, the librarian told me that the four copies in Paris were Napoleonic war booty. If the Dominican authorities in Rome happen to see this note, I pray that they may intercede with Paris for the return of at least one copy to its true home. It would help in the rediscovery of lost treasure of the Rosary Confraternity.

Lesser known but more accessible is the splendid presentation of the Rosary Confraternity by Pepinus in his work, Salutate Mariam, republished by the Dominican Rosary Centre in Santa Maria Novella, Florence. He uses the parable of the Prodigal to explain how we should live out the true spirit of a Brother/Sister of the Rosary. ‘We should listen,’ he says to the Father who says to the Elder Brother: All that I have is thine. Lk:15,31

A true elder member of the Rosary Confraternity is not like the younger brother looking for his own share of the property. He must be willing to rejoice with and celebrate the other members. Since all that the Father has is his, he himself has the right and the obligation to put the robe of mercy on his brother’s back, the shoes on his feet and the ring of union on his finger. These are covenant terms and they symbolise the covenant of love and mercy that should pertain between the members. The prayers to be said and the indulgences to be gained—the exchange of goods, as it were, point to the contract we make on joining the Confraternity. They are what I have called the bread around the sandwich. But the bonds that hold the members together and form the rich meat of the sandwich go beyond contract to reach the heights of a sacred covenant which embraces the person saying: all that is mine is yours---Totus tuus as John Paul 11 put it.

A member with this rich understanding of the Rosary Confraternity gives up existing out of his own meagre ration. He enters the treasure–house of the King and lives out of his infinite supply. This is the secret of sharing and interceding on behalf of the other members. A member of the True Rosary Confraternity is no longer waiting in the dole-queue of his own poverty or giving out of his own begging bowl. In keeping with the Book of Revelation: 3:21 - The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne... the true elder member is seated on the throne and acts with all the authority of the royal household behind him. Such a one reaches out to bless others with a boldness that moves mountains with an expectant faith the works even miracles.

This is the Rosary Confraternity to which I attach the claim of Archimedes: Give me a lever and I will move the world.

Be still and wait

2010-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

The first requirement for meditation is stillness, stillness of body but more importantly, stillness of the heart “Be still and know that I am God.” “Be still before the Lord and wait for him.” (Psalm 37,7) The New American Bible puts it forcibly: “Leave it to the Lord.” It is a kind of letting go and letting God. Psalm 131 invites us to rest like a child in the arms of the Lord: I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at it’s mother’s breast.

Christian contemplation does not end in the mind or the heart. It is not merely a mental exercise, but goes on to engage the whole personality and to overflow in love of others. The fruit of Rosary meditation shows in the transformation it effects. The words of St.Paul in Romans 12: 2 are pertinent: Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As we look to the Lord, we radiate something of his glory. It is told of Moses that on coming down from the mountain where he had conversed with God, the people could see the radiance on his face, so much so that he had to keep a veil over it. This is what St. Paul was referring to when he wrote: All we, with unveiled faces, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3: 18)

We too are being changed into his likeness. Meditation or contemplation is nothing more than this looking, this lingering in love with the Lord. All one has to do is to recall the scene, to picture Jesus in the inner heart, to recognise his presence, enfolding you in his love. Underpinning all fifteen secrets of the Rosary is this one all pervading secret, that as you surrender to it’s graced process you are being renewed, restored, revitalised, transformed. Do not be diverted from this lingering in love with the Lord himself, by the multiplicity of mysteries and vocal prayers. A lot of things in books and sermons on prayer, are simply the gathering of bricks and boards for the building of your house. When the labour of building is over, just sit at the fire and enjoy your home and dream along with the lover of your soul. This undestanding can bring a whole new delight and frutifulness to your Rosary.

Legion Pilgrimage at Knock

2010-10-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

His Eminence Sean Cardinal Brady spoke these gracious words to very large group of members of the Legion Pilgrimage at Knock this September. I have chosen the following to form an Allocutio to the Curia of Our Lady, Spouse of the Holy Spirit in the Dublin area:

It is a delight for me to be here in Knock in the company of the Legion of Mary, that great and dedicated army of Mary’s faithful and loving servants - you who serve the Church – the Body of Christ – the Son. What a joy to be here with you – you whose object is the glory of God and not the glory of self.

Today we are here to plead, through the intercession of Mary, for a special blessing on your visitation of families, and of the sick – especially of the lonely, the terminally ill and those in their last agony – both at home and in hospital. Long may your co-operation in every apostolic work and missionary undertaking, sponsored by the parish, continue to flourish and bear fruit and be blessed by the Lord. Long may the message of the Servants of God, Frank Duff, Edel Quinn and Alfie Lambe sustain you and implore you. May the day of their beatification soon draw near.

It was the genius of Frank Duff that he saw clearly that the Church is the Body of Christ. He talked about it all the time but he did not just talk – he translated his words into action! Frank Duff was ahead of his time. He opened the way for the Legion of Mary. He did so at a time when the role of the lay faithful still had to struggle for full recognition. Many would say that this is still the case – that lay people have still not been given their proper place in the Church.

His genius was to translate doctrine into action. “Christ – the Head depends on His followers” he would say. “If they do not lend themselves to Him his purposes are frustrated”. Frank Duff’s favourite papal statement was that of Paul VI who said: “What I like most about the Legion is that it empowers the little people to become apostles”. I would say it empowers not just the little people – but all the people who care to try.

The Legion of Mary has no other reason for existing but to help people to reach their final destiny – to help people into Heaven - or to use the older phraseology: the salvation of souls. They are called to have Mary’s maternity of souls: to work in the spirit of Mary, in communion with her.

2010-09-28T04:47:00.000-07:00

The following is from a talk to mark thirty years of the Charismatic Prayer Group in the Dominican Priory, Tallaght.
In keeping with the First Reading of our Mass, we too can praise God this night and say: The Lord our God has carried us as a father carries his son, all the way we went until we have reached this place. This has been the secret of our thirty years of praise and thanksgiving in this place.
The text is taken from the farewell of Moses to his people as he has brought them through the desert to the gateway to the Promised Land: Already he has told them how the Lord has carried them on eagle’s wings and in Chapter 33 he gives them the assurance that “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms”
One might recall the story of the boy caught in the blaze at the window of the Burning house. His father is standing beneath and calling: Jump, son.
The lad hesitates crying Daddy The smoke is blinding my eyes. I can’t see.
That’s all right, son, I can see you.
The lad made the leap of faith and was caught in the outstretched arms of the Father beneath.

We thank God this night,that the eyes of the Lord have been upon us. This has been the blessing of the Charismatic Renewal. It has helped us make that leap of faith, that surrender of all that we are and all that we have into the caring arms of the Lord. Even if we sometimes doubt and fail to see the hand of God, we are assured that he sees us.
Underneath all our striving and all sorrows and joys have been the everlasting arms and we rejoice the Father has carried us on eagles wings all the way to this place and this time.
email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

Frank Duff Prayer

2010-09-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

God our Father, You inspired your servant Frank Duff with a profound insight into the mystery of your Church, the Body of Christ, and of the place of Mary the Mother of Jesus in this mystery. In his immense desire to share this insight with others and in filial dependence on Mary he formed her Legion.

Here we have what might be called the founding message of the Legion and the key to our own Legion of Mary life. The primary principle of the founder was not a mere pragmatic one. In other words, apostolic outreach was not the driving force that moved Frank Duff to give birth to the Legion of Mary. Rather was it that others might share his vision. Frank was a prophet, a mystic with a dream that brought him to the heart of the Church the Body of Christ and the role of Mary in that Mother and Child Scheme of Salvation. That dream, that vision is our privilege to share and to promote. The vision is described in the Legion of Mary Handbook in the section entitled:

Mary and the Mystical Body of Christ: The various offices which Mary fulfilled, of nourishing, tending, and loving the actual body of her Divine Son, are still her offices in regard to each member of the Mystical Body, the least brethren as well as the most honourable. So that, when "the members may have the same care for one another" (1 Cor 12:25), they do not act independently of Mary, even when, through thoughtlessness or ignorance, they fail to recognise her presence.

They but join their efforts to Mary's efforts. It is already her work, and she has been exquisitely busied on it from the time of the Annunciation to this very day.

Legion work, can never be chore or a mere service. We have been chosen to share a work already in the hands and the heart of our heavenly Mother. In a sense she has need of no one, but it is God’s plan and purpose that we should have the privilege of lending her our hands and hearts.

The Legion system embodies a profound spirituality a whole mystical way of life. While it inserts us into the institutional life of the church, it immerses us in the mystery of the Church as the Body of Christ, making us members of that body and taking us to its very heart which is the Immaculate Heart of his Mother.

Every meeting , every prayer and every breath we breathe in our Legion life, is more than a simple devotional exercise. It is a sharing in the very life of Christ. Like St. Paul we can exclaim: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Gal 2:20

Our Lady’s Birthday

2010-09-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

^{Welcome to this celebration of Our Lady’s Birthday. If you have the heart of a child, then its a party and all are invited. Here are some things to remember when invited to a party.}

^Acknowledge^the^{situation and respond appropriately. You dare not ignore or forget. Either}^Accept^graciously^or^{express regret that you cannot come.}

^Focus^{on the one whose Birthday it is, rather be wrapped up in yourself.}

^{Have a good time}^{but above all reach out and rejoice with your host. The food and drink are important, but more important are the relatives and friends around the table with you. When we pray we have words and thoughts to share, but above all we try to be totally present to the sacred persons we are meeting with.}

^{Since it is our Mother Mary’s Birthday we are speaking of I am reminded of a four-year old child who was pestering his Mum for something that was not good for him, she gently said: “No!”}

^“^{You stink!}^{” he snapped}

^{“Is that so son?” Mum quietly}^replied.

^{Remembering what he heard in play- school from his pals, the four-year old came back. “Yes, y}^{ou stink the whole world!}^”

^{There are times when we adults act like that four year old and treat God and his Blessed Mother in more or less the same fashion. How often we hear the remark: “I’m sick and sore of asking. If I don’t get my request this time, that’s the end of it. I’m giving up on prayer and going to Mass. It’s all a cod or a con job!”}

^{Perhaps Our Lady replies in her gentle way. “Is that so child?” Mothers being what they are understand our frustration and what is really best for us.}

^{But surely we are called to grow up and find a better way of relating to life and to the ways of heaven. The secret is to realise that heaven knows what is best for us. At the Birthday party we take the focus off ourselves and reach out to the one who has invited us.}

^{Mary is a Mother, with a large family to care for. So our prayer should never be self-centred or selfish. We should have something of her mind and heart and pray But mothers But mothers as she did:}^{Behold the Handmaid of the Lord. Let your word be done unto me.}

Rosary Retreat

2010-08-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

I am looking forward to meeting you, even for a day or two at the Six day Retreat that begins as the Dominican Retreat Centre, Tallaght Village. It begins Saturday August 14, at 7.30pm.

The Theme I hope to share with you is: The Rosary-- Stepping Stones to Silence.
If coming for part or for the whole of the Retreat, please contact:
The Secretary,
Dominican Retreat Centre,
Tallaght, Dublin 24
Tel: 01-- 404 8189 0r 404 8123
email; retreathouse@eircom.net

God bless you
Fr. Gabriel

A Home in Heaven

2010-08-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Ascension Day is a day of Mercy,-- the day when Jesus goes to prepare a home for us:
I go to my Father and to your Father, I go to prepare a place for you. In my Father’s House, there are many mansions.

It helps me appreciate this work of mercy, when I think of my own earthly Father and mother who went to such trouble preparing a home for us. It happened quite a lot because we never really owned a home but simply rented a place, and every few years depending on working situations, we were on the move to a new home. So I have vivid memories of all the loving caring work of preparation. Carpets, curtains, lights and mirrors not to mention the mountains of bedding and kitchen stuff.

In this work of preparing a home in heaven, God wants our co-operation. He has a great task in hands-- keeping this whole creation ticking over, seeing to it that souls are saved and getting all his faithful ones into heaven. He could do it all on his own, but he calls us to share in his work. While God has an infinite supply of mercy to pour out on the world, he ask us to share in his outpouring by being merciful ourselves.

The Almighty has no need of our acts of mercy. But as Leon Bloy has written: We have the privilege of being needed by him who has need of no one. We are asked to give from the little we possess, but only to receive much more in return: By way of illustration let me tell of a couple who loved to work together in their garden. But this day husband was on his own in the back garden. He was preparing to dig out the stubborn roots of an old tree. He toiled and sweated for over an hour until at last he knew it was coming. There was a surge of pride.... but then another emotion took over. He wanted his wife to share his little victory with him. He wanted her to have the thrill of pulling the old root out together with him.

He didn’t really need any assistance. At least not in the physical sense. He had all the strength he needed for that. For love’s sake however he needed her. He knew that she would like to part of his achievement. So he called her and together they pulled the old root out and dumped it.

Don’t we all want to be needed? On the other hand there is the trauma of not being needed not wanted. Not on the team. Surplus to requirement. Rejected redundant. In God’s plan of mercy, we all pull together. There is no redundancy. We have the privilege of being needed by the One who has need of no one. Let's work together with our heavenly Father to build the home in heaven where we hope to spend eternity.
hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

Teresa of Calcutta

2010-07-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have loved Jesus in the night:
Teresa of Calcutta
A Secret revealed by Paul Murray,OP
Darton, Longman & Todd

This is more than a book about a saint. It is a treasure in a whole field of literature around Mother Teresa. Paul Murray writes as a poet and a mystic and from beginning to end, this is a work that scintillates and shines in the darkness. Fr. Paul brings us into the heart of the Saint and reveals something of the inner secret of her being.

Three characters came across to me as I eagerly read through these pages: I was introduced to the light that shone in the night for Mother Teresa herself. The references to John of the Cross were a welcome ray of light in the darkness that for so many, surrounds this Spanish saint. Thirdly, the person of the author himself seems to speak as he writes in intimate personal tones, weaving a mystic magic into the heart of the reader. He certainly did that for me.

Page 92 tells of the Desert Father whose fingers became like lamps of fire and said if you will, you can become all flame. I could only rejoice that the fingers that typed out the words of this beautiful book are indeed lamps of fire and I believe that many of its readers may become all flame.

A credit to the publishers who have presented a delightful production, the kind of thing one would want to give as a Birthday or Christmas present. Looking at the photos of Fr. Paul communing, (not just speaking) with Mother Teresa, I felt like one who had slipped in secretly on sacred moments.

Stand in your Presence

2010-07-07T04:20:00.000-07:00

At Mass say: We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you. The presence of God in our lives is what enlightens our darkness and keeps us from fainting on the way. We are called to be totally present to the One who is the

Ps: 5:5 "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence." There is a time for standing in readiness to serve, as there is a time for resting and being refreshed. Come aside and rest awhile. This is what takes place during our meditation when we wait upon the Lord. Meditation prepares us to take our stand. We wait with expectation with patient an hope-filled expectation. For what?

Isaiah 40:31 Shows both the resting and the serving in one magnificent statement: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Strength is for action, to enable us to serve. Meditation is meant to overflow in service to God and to others.

Mount up like eagles
An eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks It will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm, it simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. When the storms of life come upon us ... and all of us will experience them ... we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God.

The storms do not have to overcome us, we can allow God's power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure, and disappointment into our lives. We can soar above the storm. This heaven-inspired soaring is what gives us the strength to stand in the Divine Presence and serve the King of Heaven.

They shall run and not be weary : Walking is too slow sometimes, to reach the prize, There is a need to pay the price and RUN towards it. The secret of coming into the presence of God or any human being, is being ourselves totally present, with all our attention and all our faith in the other. Lack of faith in God's power and God’s love for us, sets up a new god. For if there be anything which usurps the power of God, something that is more potent than God, then that something must be god!

DOOR INTO THE SACRED

2010-06-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

This new work by Fr. Paul Murray is a Meditation on the Hail Mary. In his introduction, the author writes: "My hope in writing this tiny book is that, by giving space to some of the most moving and most profound reflections ever written on the Hail Mary, a door will open for the reader into a world in which the strenuous task of thinking and the easeful grace of feeling can both be considered sacred, and where wisdom and enchantment, theology and devotion, are found, at core, to be one and the same thing. For almost an entire millennium the most commonly repeated prayer in the Church, apart from the Our Father, has been the Hail Mary. It’s a prayer that, with great simplicity and ease, brings us at once into the mystery of God incarnate, the mystery of Jesus, son of Mary. For countless numbers of people over the centuries it has proved to be a threshold of grace, a real opening into the mystery and meaning of God’s love, a ‘holy door’."

For myself, I find this latter to be so true. How often on entering an old Church in Italy or France, I have observed the Angel Gabriel carved on one side of the main door and the Virgin Mary on the other side. It made me feel that I was being ushered in to the wonderland of the sacred and secret mystery of God. I hope to have this precious work of Fr. Paul available for our Rosary Retreat in the Retreat Centre, in Tallaght
August 14th--20. If you cannot make the full five days it i possible to drop in for a single day or more.

Rosary Video

2010-06-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

The picture shows Dominican Friars singing the Night Office with Our Lady watching over them as they sign the Salve Regina-- Hail Holy Queen!
www.worldpriest asked me to put a Nine minute talk on their Website. Hope you like it.Look up the site below.

Rosary Videohttp://worldpriest.com/home/rosary

Fr. Gabriel at the Dominican Priory, Tallaght Village, Dublin 24

Beads for Meditation

2010-06-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

For those who may be shy of producing the Catholic beads in public, it may be of help to know that they are not alone when they pray the Rosary. Hindus, Buddhists and many other folk, use the beads as an aid to meditation. They sit still and pass the beads through their fingers while they repeat a sacred word or mantra. Touching the beads enables them to be serene and secure. The sacred word is more sounded in the depth of the being than spoken by the lips.

So never be tempted to think that the Catholic Rosary is elitist or out of date. Praying with the beads is universal and belongs to every age and civilization. See picture of Buddhist monk meditating with his beads in his hands. You can read more about all this in my book: The Riches of the Rosary, published by Veritas, Dublin.

The Catena of the Legion of Mary

2010-06-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Catena is the Latin word for link or chain. It is the sign of the Holy Slavery of Jesus and Mary as taught by St. Louis Marie de Montfort. It reminds Legionaries that they are bound by the sweet chain of Love and Loyalty to Mary and to each other. Members of the Legion of Mary are not lone rangers working on their own. They are in the service of the Queen of Heaven and they stand shoulder to shoulder in army that has set itself to conquer the world.

Even those who have left are encouraged to pray the Catena and thereby keep a connection with the Legion. The opening Antiphon of the Catena is a panorama of the whole role of Mary: Fair as the Moon, Bright as the Sun, and like an Army in battle array! At once attractive and awesome!

In the Magnificat Mary does what we all need to do: She points to the Lord. For our part we often focus on ourselves -- our projects and our problems and make them still larger. Mary sweetly and surely makes the problems into possibilities as she teaches us instead to magnify the Lord. She is the Magnifier of God and his kingdom. Like her Son, she prays thy name, thy Kingdom, thy will. As we grow in this spirit of Mary, the apostolate becomes no longer my kingdom my project, my problem. As our little kingdom decreases, so does the Kingdom of God take root and grow great.

Pride is the most destructive force in the world and blocks the stream of grace. The Lord scatters the proud hearted. We know this to be true from our own experience and have seen that how it can destroyed or gravely diminish even Mary’s own Legion. Humility on the other hand is the foundation on which the Kingdom is established.

Mary acknowledges that anything that is good in her is the work of the Lord. Her soul proclaims the greatness of God. She knows that God has saved her and she rejoices in God my Saviour. Legionaries should remember the words of St. Ephraem so well: ‘May the spirit of Mary be in every soul to glorify the Lord.’

Fr. Bede the Head spiritual director of the Legion of Mary suggests that while we pray the Magnificat together at all our meetings sometimes we should pray and meditate over it personally and in solitude.

worldpriest.com

2010-06-08T04:52:00.000-07:00

Recently I was given the opportunity of appearing live on the
Website entitled: worldpriest.com

The occasion, was the close of the Year for Priests and they asked me to say a few words on the Rosary in the life of a Priest. You can look the site up for yourself and I trust it may bring us a little closer. What I was trying to get across in the short time available, was that in the hands of the Priest, the Rosary was not only a prayer, but that a valuable instrument of preaching the Good News of Jesus and Mary.

For the Rosary is a summary of the Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. Pere Lacordaire spoke of it as L'evangile a genoux-- The Gospel on its knees. You can see and listen live by clicking on the following:
http://www.worldpriest.c/home/rosary_relay_video.php

God needs each one of us

2010-05-12T04:29:00.000-07:00

Ascension Day:

This is a great day of Mercy. It is the final work of mercy when Jesus goes to prepare a home for each one of us: I go to my Father and to your Father, I go to prepare a place for you. In my Father’s House, there are many mansions.

It helps me appreciate this work of mercy, when I think of my own earthly father and mother who went to such trouble preparing a home for us. It happened quite a lot because we never really owned a home but simply rented a place, and every few years depending on working situations, we were on the move to a new home. I have vivid memories of all the loving caring work of preparation: carpets, curtains, lights and mirrors not to mention the mountains of bedding and kitchen stuff.

And in this work of preparing a home in heaven, the Heavenly Father wants our co-operation. God our Father has a great task in hands-- keeping this whole creation ticking over, seeing to it that souls are saved and getting all his faithful ones into heaven. He could do it all on his own, but he calls us to share in his work. While God has an infinite supply of mercy to pour out on the world, he ask us to share in his outpouring by being merciful ourselves.

Jesus says: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
And in the Fifth Beatitude: Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. It would seem that to pour out his mercy, The Almighty has need of our acts of mercy. As the Frenchman, Leon Bloy has written: We have the privilege of being needed by him who has need of no one. We are asked to give from the little we possess, but only to receive much more in return:

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return. Luke 6:38

By way of illustration let me tell of a couple who loved to work together in their garden. But this day the husband was on his own in the back garden. He was preparing to dig out the stubborn roots of an old tree. He toiled and sweated for over an hour until at last he knew it was coming. There was a surge of pride.... but then another emotion took over. He wanted his wife to share his little victory with him. He wanted her to have the thrill of pulling the old root out together with him. He didn’t really need any assistance. At least not in the physical sense. He had all the strength he needed for that. For love’s sake however, he needed her. He knew that she would like to part of his achievement. So he called her and together they pulled the old root out and dumped it. Together is better.

You notice the same thing when a strong man wins a seat in Parliament. He calls up his wife to stand beside him to share his hour of glory. Don’t we all want to share, to be needed, to be part of the project. As long as he needs me, goes the song. On the other hand there is the trauma of not being needed not wanted, not on the team. It must be terrible to hear those words: Surplus to requirement! Rejected! redundant!
In God’s plan of mercy, there is no redundancy. We all in it together. We have the privilege of being needed by the One who has need of no one. He has entrusted some work of Divine mercy to me which he has committed to none other. He wishes me to work alongside him in his own mission of mercy. Let me do so that I may find mercy in my hour of need.

Eucharistic Tent of Meeting

2010-04-28T07:39:00.001-07:00

Domine quo vadis? Lord with are you going, asked Peter as he was running away from Rome to escape death.
Jesus met him on the way and replied:
Peter, I go to Rome to be crucified again.
Peter understood that the Christ who promised to be with us until the end was suffering in the mystical body which is his people.

Despite the storms and the scandals of our times, we have this blessed assurance that the Lord is still with us—until the end of time. If we are experiencing crucifixion, the Lord is enduring in the midst of us. He is meeting up with us.

Tent of Meeting
And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting… and all the people would rise up---each at his own door and observe. Whatever we meet up with as the ground seems to be taken from under us in so many fields -- sacred and secular we have this inner tent—this inner meeting place with the Lord. This is where we go when we sit and meditate each morning and evening.

Living in the Presence of God
For the Jewish people the big question was not the Existence of God, whether there is a God or not, but whether God was with them or not. Speaking to the successor of Moses, the Lord said: As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will never forsake you. That means : Behind you, supporting and encouraging you, going before you, as a Pillar of fire by night and as a Cloud of Glory by day.

The word to the Prophets and Leaders always was: I the Lord am with you. To Mary: Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you.

Little wonder that this promise and blessing has found it way into the Eucharist: Dominus Vobiscum. And we keep in mind the words of Paul: If the Lord is with us, who can be against us!

This is one of the characteristics of love: to stay around. A small boy came home and told his Mammy about his Grandad who was sitting alone crying. “But its all right now,” he continued: “I sat with him and helped him to cry.”

This is what gives us security and inner peace and lets us sit still in meditation. We know that the Lord himself sits with us, gathers up our tears and enfolds in his love. We do like that small boy, we sit with each other and live in the presence of each other.
Fr. Gabriel: Dominican Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Ireland.
EMAIL: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

The Tent of Meeting

2010-04-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Domine quo vadis? Lord with are you going, asked Peter as he was running away from Rome to escape death.
Jesus met him on the way and replied:
Peter, I go to Rome to be crucified again.
Peter understood that the Christ who promised to be with us until the end was suffering in the mystical body which is his people.

Despite the storms and the scandals of our times, we have this blessed assurance that the Lord is still with us—until the end of time. If we are experiencing crucifixion, the Lord is enduring in the midst of us. He is meeting up with us.

Tent of Meeting
And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting… and all the people would rise up---each at his own door and observe. Whatever we meet up with as the ground seems to be taken from under us in so many fields -- sacred and secular we have this inner tent—this inner meeting place with the Lord. This is where we go when we sit and meditate each morning and evening.

Living in the Presence of God
For the Jewish people the big question was not the Existence of God, whether there is a God or not, but whether God was with them or not.

Speaking to the successor of Moses, the Lord said: As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will never forsake you. That means : Behind you, supporting and encouraging you, going before you, as a Pillar of fire by night and as a Cloud of Glory by day. The word to the prophets and leaders always was: I the Lord am with you. To Mary: Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you.

Little wonder that this promise and blessing has found it way into the Eucharist: Dominus Vobiscum. And we keep in mind the words of Paul: If the Lord is with us, who can be against us!

This is one of the characteristics of love: to stay around. A small boy came home and told his Mammy about his Grandad who was sitting alone crying. “But its all right now,” he continued: “I sat with him and helped him to cry.”

This is what gives us security and inner peace and lets us sit still in meditation. We know that the Lord himself sits with us, gathers up our tears and enfolds in his love. We do like that small boy, we sit with each other and live in the presence of each other.

You can write to me at Dominican Priory, Tallaght Village, Dublin 24, Ireland or email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

Motherhood of souls

2010-04-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

Motherhood of souls is Mary’s essential function. Without participation in that, there can be no real union with her. True devotion comprises the service of souls. It is not enough to praise, we are called to imitate, identify with Mary herself. She is a Queen Mother with a family as extensive as the whole Kingdom of God. Just as it is not enough to pray, thy kingdom come ,so we have to work to bring about that Kingdom. We have to play an active part. St. Paul used the daring expression: I fill up in my body what is wanting to the passion of Christ. Without our Legion apostolate of sharing in the motherhood of Mary, there would be something wanting to our devotion.

A mere verbal offering of our services to Mary can be as empty. Apostolic duties will not descend from Heaven on those who content themselves with waiting passively for that to happen. Those who stand idly by will continue in their state of unemployment. The only effective method of offering ourselves as apostles is to undertake apostleship. We have just to take the first simple step in faith and love and at once Mary embraces our activity and incorporates it in her motherhood.

How could the Virgin so powerful be dependent on the aid of persons so weak? It is a part of the divine arrangement which requires human co-operation. Mary's treasury of grace is superabundant, but she cannot spend from it without our help. If she could use her power according to her heart alone, the world would be converted in the twinkling of an eye. But she has to wait till the human agencies are available to her. Deprived of them, she cannot fulfil her motherhood, and souls starve and die.
Legionaries are no dead instruments of Mary's action. There is question of a living and life-giving co-operation with her for the purpose of enriching and ransoming souls. Where the spirit of this partnership is honoured, Mary is never be found wanting. The fate of the enterprise may be said to depend entirely on the legionary, so that he must bring to it all his/her intelligence and strength, perfected by careful method and by perseverance.

One must pray as if all depended on that prayer and nothing on one's own efforts, and then one must strive as if absolutely everything depended on that striving.
There is nothing lost of anything which is committed to the hands of the careful housewife of Nazareth. The legionary looks to Mary to supernaturalise the natural. She who is full of grace will see it that our human endeavour walks hand in hand with the grace of God

Dealing with recession and depression

2010-03-17T05:03:00.000-07:00

All over the world these days, the TV and radio are beating out a continuous story about the financial crisis that is upon us. The more we listen to the torrent of depressive words that are rolling over us, like a sunami the more we need to find a way of rising above the waves of doom and gloom.

This is where the daily dose of meditation such as the Rosary provides can come to our aid. The time set aside to ponder enter the wonderland of the Rosary seems to roll back the waters of darkness and depression. One ceases to let the tide of distress take over. We find ourselves at ease as we discover the inner land where Jesus and Mary live and all things are well. Miracles of healing and well-being are there for the asking.

I am reminded of the miracle that the Lord worked for the Israelites as the might forces of Pharo and the Egyptians was bearing down on them. With the burning sands of the desert behind them and the terror of the Red Sea ahead, the Lord opened a way through for them. Moses lifted up his rod, and with the might of the Lord on his side, made the waters pile up to provide a solid dry ground, so that the people could pass safely through on to the Land that flowed with wine and milk and honey.

That journey to the physical land is a symbol of the pilgrim soul moving in meditation to the inner land of the heart. There exists an inner space where amid the desert of desolation one may find security and serenity. The peace and the stability generated in those sacred times, radiate to the rest of the day.

The fragrance of those precious moments permeates our being, and brings all our ways to a creativity, and a consummation beyond our dreaming. We learn to live, no longer out of our own meagre resource, but out of the infinite supply of the heavenly Father. We rest in those words of Jesus, that the Father who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field is constantly looking after us.

Email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

God made of her tears—the Rosary

2010-03-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

Verse 3 and the last, of this poem came from an old woman in America. Fr.Placid Nolan, op added the other verses

Our Lady wept sweet tears of joy

When first she held her baby boy;

Her son, foretold by angel bright,

New dawn on earth of heaven’s light.

The time had come as well she knew,

The mighty power of God to show;

And Mary wept soft tears of light

In Cana, where the best wine flowed

There, she stood beneath the Cross,

Her lovely head on her bosom bowed;

And Mary’s tears fell one by one,

As she beheld her dying son.

God crowned her Queen, and now

Her tears, like raindrops fall,

Each one a healing, loving touch

On all her children, when they call

But all those tears were saved,

As if by miracle;

And God in wondrous mystery,

Made of her tears-- the Rosary.

Bridegroom in Blood

2010-03-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

Exodus 4: 18-31
Moses was on his way back to Egypt to see how his Jewish people were faring. They no longer saw themselves as the chosen people, but as chain-gang slaves under the Pharaoh. At a lodging place, that the Lord met him and wanted to kill him. Then Zipporah his wife took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said: Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me, because of the circumcision. Circumcision was the male Sign of the Covenant. The wife it would appear from this text was considered a Bride in Covenant Blood.

Hosea 2:17-19:
I will make for you a covenant....and I will betroth you to me for ever...in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.
Ezek. 16:8
I plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine

Marriage covenant gives Security!
Beauty of seeing a loving couple at Mass together joined together in the Body and Blood of Jesus. Marriage is not just an image of the Covenant, but an actual embodiment of it. Where it flourishes others can rest-- children, even visitors to the home. When one is in a loving union with another, there is harmony in the heart and an ambience of peace and contentment that enables one to settle in to the core and cavern of the soul. I overheard one woman say that while she was sitting at her work-desk, suddenly she was enlightened to as to the inner happiness and contentment she drew from her husband.

Spouses need quality/prime time on their own. When the little children are asleep in bed... and mini-breaks for resting alone. Even the children benefit from this. Loving spouses hold their family in their own embrace. They are enfolded in their love. My own memory is that the times I felt most secure was when my parents were close and content. When they were divided, we too felt divided and depressed.

Bridegroom/Bride relationship in God’s covenant
So indeed, when we are deeply drawn into the communion with the Lord, so surely are those who are of God’s family and are entrusted to our care. The contemplative life, far from being selfish or closed in on itself is an open circle enfolding and embracing all people and all creation. When Lover and Beloved are at one, there is a creative energy between them, that brings forth new life. The union of male and female in marriage finds its fullest expression within the context of God’s covenant relationship with his people.

The Lover and the Beloved find nourishment for their souls in the Song of Solomon. 7:10-12. I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me. Come my beloved, let us go forth into the fields and lodge in the villages; let us go early to my vineyards. . . . There I will give you my love.

When Jeremiah prophesied of the institution of the New Covenant, he said, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them. This again supposes that under the terms of the old covenant, Israel were related to the Lord as a wife to an husband.
The charge laid against Israel, however, is that they proved unfaithful to their marriage vow.

Hosea experienced the heartbreak of desertion, and betrayal from his unfaithful wife Gomer . He heard the awful words of the Lord: You are not my people and I will not be your God. The adultery of his wife was an image of the betrayal of God by his people Israel. The woman Hosea loved was to be sold in the slave market. The brokenhearted prophet didn't know what to do. And God said. Hosea, do you love this woman in spite of all that she has done to you? Then go show your love for her in the same way that I love the nation Israel." In the end his ears would hear the consoling words of the Lord to this same people: Behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
I was reminded of all this, sitting before an open fire. There was central heating in the house and it certainly warmed the room and comforted our bones. But when someone threw a large oil-soaked fire-log on the open fire, a blaze of glory filled the room and made our faces glow and our hearts to be as it were on fire too. Love human and divine is like this. St John of he Cross in his work The Living Flame speaks of the Bridegroom or of the Beloved 550 times using such expressions for Christ as Light of the eyes, Lily of the valley, Sweet Nightingale!

Commenting on the Song of Songs, he says: A little of this pure love is more precious to God, more precious to the soul, and of more benefit for the Church, even though it seems to be doing nothing, than all those other works together. He writes: Enter within your heart and work in the presence of your Bridegroom, who is always present loving you. Even when John talks of nada nada, nothing nothing, it is never an empty space he envisions, but a an opening for an infilling with the presence of the Bridegroom.

In a modern writing Love Before my Face: one reads the following inspired message from Jesus: I will divinise natural love between persons who seek to love through my Divine Humanity. Celibates depending on my Divine Humanity will receive support whereby they may love humanly while remaining faithful to me. They will find freedom to show great affection. Trust in me, will carry them through difficulties.

By loving each other while placing all their trust in me, the love and gratitude of their hearts for me will be deepened. I will enter into your flesh and chasten it and make it sweet to love. Love without expression, if expression can help or heal another, is sterile. I have called you to love, and thus to love each other. If you do not first find me, you will be unable to love, with the love that profits for eternal life. I will be in your loving and you will find it sweet to love. If I am sought through human loving. If I am understood and accepted as the author, giver and source of love, then my support, my tenderness and my power will give to those who love, an understanding of the true meaning of love and of human life.
True love is not confined to marriage. Single celibate persons are called to this: as evidenced by the Book devoted to the love between Jordan of Saxony and the nun Blessed Diana entitled, Love among the Saints. It must be understood that while we speak of love human and divine and of the many-splendoured range of love, spousal love, love between parents and children, love of country, and so on, in the end there is only one Love for it all finds its source and reaches it summit in the Trinitarian God who is Love itself.

Picture above: The Marriage Feast of Cana, which is much more than a matter of providing wine for the immediate occasion, but is a foreshadowing of the overflowing of the wine and milk and honey of the New Covenant./BlogWebSingle.doc

Email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk

Blog: http://blogrosary.blogspot.com/

Humility and the Legion of Mary

2010-03-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

George Bernard Shaw: The churches must learn humility as well as teach it. How relevant to our times! Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues.

Christ recommended it above all, for only when humility exists does God bestow his favours. Mary says, in the "Magnificat," that in her God has shown might in his arm, that is, he has exerted in her his very omnipotence.

But how could Mary be a model of humility, considering that her treasury of perfections was altogether immeasurable - as Thomas Aquinas said: touching the very borders of infinity? She was aware that she was more perfectly redeemed than any other. Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Everything is God's free gift to the soul: his to increase, diminish, or withdraw, just as he alone gave it. Humility is like the force of gravity which keeps the heavenly bodies in their proper orbit and in sweet harmony. Humility is the grace -force which enables us to move surely in the grand plan of the Creator. Thomas Merton said: Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.

The Legion's battle begins in the heart of the individual legionary. Each one wages the battle with himself, determinedly conquering the spirit of pride and self. This struggle with the root of evil within one, this constant striving after purity of intention, is the battle of a lifetime. Reliance upon one's own efforts makes for failure. Of what use are his own muscles to one struggling in a quicksand? A firm support is necessary. Lean upon her with complete trust. She will not fail you, for she is deeply rooted in that humility which is vital to you. In the faithful practice of the spirit of dependence upon her will be found a way of humility - what St. Louis-Marie de Montfort terms "a little-known secret of grace, enabling us quickly and with but little effort to empty ourselves of self, fill ourselves with God, and become perfect."

The humble Virgin's heel crushes the serpent of self, with its many heads: of
Self-promotion, self-seeking; self-sufficiency and self-conceit; The Legionary distrusts the promptings of his own inclinations and and leans on the Lord and listens intently to the whisperings of grace.

God delights to work on nothing; from that deep foundation it is that he raises the creations of his power. We should be full of zeal for God's glory, and at the same time convinced of our personal incapacity to promote it. God does not call the able, he enables those whom he calls.

Email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk Blog: http://blogrosary.blogspot.com/

My Peculiar People

2010-03-02T01:16:00.000-08:00

The two elements that form God’s Covenant with his people are his His Promise to carry them on Eagle’s wings and to give them a home-- a Promised Land.

The two pillars that uphold the covenant are Mercy and Fidelity, in the Hebrew they are known as Hesed and Emet....
In our Gaelic language they are beautifully summed up in one word: Buangra, which means steadfast love. All that is mine is yours. Not just exchange of goods but a giving of persons. Two parties come together to become one. They form a Coalition, a Grand Alliance.

My Peculiar People
Deut 7:6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the Lord loves you”.

If you look at the King James version you will see the last phrase God’s own people is given as God’s peculiar people. The word has altered its meaning since Elizabethan times. The Greek and the Hebrew word which means special possession. You are God’s special possession – God’s precious possession. It defines all that is positive in a person’s qualities, all that is most valued and precious.

The Queen’s peculiars: Certain offices and honours that she might personally confer on certain Cathedral clerics. Or her own personal jewellery over and above the crown Jewels of thr realm.
A nuns peculiars: While she might bring a dowry-- a sum of money for her upkeep in the convent, she could well have a gold watch or bracelet given as a family heirloom. These would be considered her peculiar possessions. Whatever might happen to the dowry if she left, one thing was certain that she would be handed back her peculiars.
Come hell or high water, nothing was going to separate God from his crown jewels, his chosen people- which is you and me to-day. Only we have to stand by the covenant.

When women go shopping!
As distinct from a contract, covenant places the emphasis on the person rather than on the goods. I’ve noticed this in the way women shop rather than the way most men seem to. When men go out shopping with women, you’ll often find them sitting around waiting and wondering when and where its all going to end. Personally I find it kind of venture into the Aladdin’s cave that women seem to have in their soul’s when they step into a Superstore. When I accompany my friend into Tesco, I never cease to wonder at all the things she can stock up in her trolley, considering that she lives and eats or her own. At seventy she is still shopping for her grown up sons and daughters as if they were at home. It’s all and expression of her own covenant with her family.

The story of Jonathan giving his princely cloak to his friend David by way of a sign of the covenant they were cutting with each other is a perfect example of the same thing. In 1 SAMUEL 18-20 Jonathan takes off his princely cloak and gives it to David. This symbolised the merciful protection of the king’s son. David would feel protected and cherished in the warmth and splendour of the Prince’s cloak. When people would see David so dressed they would respect him and know that he had been singled out for honour by the authorities. He would walk with confidence not only through the land beneath his feet but in the inner land of his spirit. So we clothed in the robe of Divine mercy the Buangra De, find rest and renewal as we meditate on the wonder of our being.

Much of my distinction between goods and person has been sparked off by a gift I was given this Christmas by a lady in this John Main meditation group-- the jacket that I’m wearing just now. It’s a bit like Jonathan and David, a symbolic exchange of robe. First reaction was, Not for me. I’d be Fr. Trendy in that! Thought I’d bring it up to my Grandmother friend for one of the children or grandchildren. As it was a bit bulky and warm, the simplest way to carry it was to slip it on under my overcoat. I hadn’t reckoned with the Winter that was looming. To make a long story short, I have never had it off since putting it on. And the grandchildren tell me that I look cool in it. I now know that I am one of my friend's peculiar people. The incident has promote me to write these lines.

She walked through the shops
with things on her mind
and persons in her soul:
toys for the boys and tops for the girls
and special things for her spouse.
She tussled with the toys and tops and things
while she dreamed of friends and faces.

Then in between the reels and the rails
she touched this fleece and sensed its sweetness--
and then my face slipped between her fingers
and her heart said: “it will warm his bones
and get him through the Winter."

Arise she said, for Winter is over and gone.
Not outside my dear, I said,
When swiftly came her sure reply:
Within the warmth of Buangra De, it is.

Inner Land Prayer

2010-02-27T03:55:00.000-08:00

I come to you my Lord, that you may reign over me.
I claim the promise that you would carry me to yourself on eagle's wings
I come as one of your chosen people, your own possession.
I bring you Lord, the barren land of my being,
so that its desert may blossom like the rose.
as you drench it in the torrent of your love.
I, yield to you the inner land of my being,
that you may clear it of all that would hinder your sacred covenant.
I lay before you the closed and cluttered country of my heart
that you may break through and set me free to
walk with head held high, through the land of promise
to which you call me.
Enlighten the eye of my mind
so that I may see what needs to be set right
in the inner city where you are to reign.
Give me the sword of the Spirit
that I may set forth in high adventure
to claim nry land for your Lordship.
Cut your covenant with me
and seal it with your precious blood.
Share with me the wine,
the milk and the honey which flow in the new creation.
Give me to drink
of the Eucharistic cup of the new and everlasting covenant.
Call me to your banqueting table
and clothe me as one of your household
in the royal robe of your mercv.
May you find your delight in us, O Lord,
and give us the land.

On Eagle's wings

2010-02-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

Exodus 19: 4' You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession My Peculiar people among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

The Eagle in Isaiah 40:31 takes advantage of air currents to fly with little or no effort. The eagle does not escape the strong winds and the storms. It simply uses them to lift itself higher. When the storms of life come upon us, we can rise above them by setting our souls toward God allowing his mercy an faithfulness to lift us above them. It is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we entrust them to the what Deuteronomy 33:27 calls the everlasting arms beneath. The eternal God is your refuge,and underneath are the everlasting arms." We must wait on the Lord, until we catch the wind of the Spirit. Eagle believers are those who seek to find out where God is going, and then go with Him. They don’t sense fighting against the wind currents. They find out what God's doing and enter into it.

When the eagle is teaching its young to fly, it pushes the young chick out of the nest and lets it flab and flop for a while, but then swoops down and picks the struggling eaglet on its own strong safe wings. Deuteronomy 1:29-31 "The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did ... in the desert. He carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." We are to run to the one in distress and not to faint or forget.

Scott Hahn subtitles his book on the Covenant: The Father who never forgets his promises. He tells of an Armenian father who told his son, Armond, “No matter what happens, I’ always be there for you.” In 1989 there was an earthquake in that country that in four minutes left 30,000 dead. The father thought immediately of his son at school and running through the streets he made for the class-room where he knew his son would be. He started digging through the rubble with his bare hands, even as a bystander muttered “Forget it , the’re all dead in there.” But this man could not forget or forsake his son. So he kept on digging and scraping for 36 hours. At last from under a wallboard, he heard a groan and he called, “Armand” and a shaky voice cried: “Papa!” When the same father had dragged out 14 more still alive, Armand hailed his classmates “See I told you, my Father wouldn’t forget us.”

The word "covenant" means "come together", as found in such words as "convention" and "communion" A covenant is a solemn agreement, whereby not only goods are exchanged but there is a commitment of persons to each other. Note the two elements in marriage. It is a contract—“This gold and silver, I thee give and with all my worldly goods, I thee endow.” But more so, there is the giving of Bride and the Bridegroom to each other. “With this body, I thee worship…” That is the covenant of marriage which binds husband and wife to each other until death do them part. Your heart and mine are one! This is what the Lord is saying to us and this too is our response to his Covenant.

The contract proposed to the Jewish people is that they would be given a land to live in and Promised Land. The Covenant promise is that they would be a Chosen people. But the contract was not to inherit a mere patch of physical territory. It was to to take possession of an inner land, to discover for themselves a land of heart’s desire,--- a place of settlement.

We all have our personal land which flows with the wine and milk and honey of the spirit. We are invited to discover that inner land where we can find rest. We must not allow strange gods to take over this sacred space. We know the hurt that comes from having forces of occupation parading and prowling over one’s native land. But more importantly there is an inner land that must not be violated or trampled on. This is were the prayer of stillness and silence as exercised in this group does its saving work.

In Bible terms we speak of cutting a covenant where blood flows and where the blood of the parties are mingled and they become a family of Blood Brothers and Sisters. Blood is thicker than water! Blood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have formed a union and sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together. The process usually provides a participant with a heightened symbolic sense of attachment with another participant.

Stanley the New York Reporter in his search for the missioner, Livingstone, tells of his trek through the African jungles. Stanley was confronted by a warlike tribe and was too weak to struggle with them. He was advised to enter into a covenant with them and was told that this would mean drinking each other’s blood. While he did not relish the idea, it was explained to him that is he did so, their lives would be one and everything that the Tribal chief had would be his if he needed it. The only thing that would be asked of him was to hand over the white milk goat.

The New York reporter was in such poor health that the only thing he could stomach was goat’s milk. This would be the end of him. But he was assured that this was merely symbolic of what Stanley himself could offer and there was no intention of withholding the milk from him. In return the Chieftain handed over an ornate seven foot tall spear. The Chieftain announced to his people, “Come trade with Stanley for we are blood brothers.” It was only later that he understood the significance of that spear for as soon as others saw the Tribal chief’s weapon they would fall over themselves to heap gifts son Stanley. They knew that the two had cut a covenant and that they could work together in confidence and fidelity.

The Hebrew Tradition associates two qualities with the idea of Covenant: They are Mercy and Fidelity. The Biblical terms are Hesed and Emet. These are the two binding forces that hold the Covenant in place. The Bible treats them as if they were Personal forces, like nouns standing up on their own rather than mere descriptive adjectives.

Let us pray that in the hour of need we may experience that Hesed and emet Jahweh--the merciful and never forgetting fidelity of our God.
But if we are to enjoy the Covenant protection in our lives, we are called to become eagles ourselves-- showing our brothers and sisters them the same mercy and faithfulness and carrying them in the palms of our hands.

In Covenant with Mary

2010-02-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

Mark Twain tells of the day a certain King and the Queen were bringing their new little Prince home from the royal hospital. On the way home their carriage collided with a poor man’s cart. In the humble vehicle the poor man was bringing his wife and new baby home from the midwife's house. In the confusion of the moment, the two couples picked up the wrong babies by mistake and the little Prince went home to be raised by the pauper and his wife.

As the baby grew into childhood, he was forced to go into the streets and beg for food. However, unknown to him the very streets he begged on, belonged to him because they were the property of his true father and mother. Day after day out he would go to the palace and looking through the iron fence at the little boy playing there and he would say to himself, "If only I were a Prince." Of course, he was the Prince! But he was not aware of it.

He lived his whole life in poverty because he didn't know who he really was since he didn't know who his mother was. How true this is of many Christians. They have never taken time to find out to whom they belong. They have never realized who their real mother is. Ever since the day we were born spiritually, we became sons and daughters of the God and his own Mother Mary.

We are heirs to a royal throne. How sad to think we go through self–imposed spiritual poverty and cheat ourselves out of the riches of God's marvellous grace. We must learn to live no longer from the meagre ration of self, but out of the infinite supply of the King and Queen of Heaven.

The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and made her his Bride. She has been a faithful Bride and Mother and together they continue to bring forth Christ—that is the Whole Christ—the Mystical Body. Without that co-operation, there would nothing Christian to our being. Our task is to recognise and accept this Divine arrangement, to surrender to it.

True Devotion to Mary means entering into a Contract and making Covenant with her. A Contract is an exchange of goods as we say: All I have is yours. A Covenant is an exchange of Persons as we say: All I am is yours. It is like a marriage which is not only a giving of gold and silver, but a mutual giving of persons to each other.

By reason of the contract and the covenant we have entered into, Mary’s answer is: “Beloved, I am all yours and all I have is yours..”

Rosary reply

2010-02-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-22T00:56:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-10-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-12T04:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-15T02:56:00.000-07:00

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

The Dominican Mass of the Rosary

2009-07-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

The Rosary in former times was understood as a Proclamation of the Gospel. Lacordaire, the famous French Dominican Preacher spoke of the Rosary as L’evangile a genoux,-- The Gospel on its knees!

Up to the reform of the Liturgy that went with Vatican 2, the Dominican Missal had a special Votive Mass text, known as The Privileged Mass of the Rosary. The particular Gospel for that Mass seemed at the time, perplexing to some. They would have thought it should have been the Annunciation story or something like that. As is being stressed once again in these days, the mysteries of the Rosary are scripturally based and are the seeds that produce a harvest, one hundred fold.

Commenting on the Gospel text, Jesus addresses his disciples in these words: "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…” Dominican friars known as the Order of Preachers, would have been mindful of this text as they used the mysteries of the Rosary as a means of proclaiming the Gospel.

Any authentic Rosary apostolate should lay claim to the old adage: The Rosary is a method of preaching as well as form of prayer. The Latin phrase to be found in older works is delightfully precise: Rosarium magis est modus praedicandi quam orandi. Little wonder that a Dominican at profession is solemnly clothed with the beads and reminded in the words of Our Lady to St.Dominic: Go, preach my rosary.

Make my House a house of prayer

2009-07-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

One of the strongest words spoken by Jesus, was: My house will be a house of prayer. Lk19:46 He said it as he drove the traders from the Temple in Jerusalem. But we can apply the words to our own house or to the home of our heart.

Before leaving Ireland, Pope John Paul made this fervent plea: My wish is that every home would once again be a home of prayer. We are more than willing to make provision for those of our household. We see to it that our children have adequate shelter, food and education. We would not neglect anything that was for their material welfare.

What of the spiritual food and formation they hunger for? A house without prayer is a house without heart. Let’s put new hearts into our homes.

Below are set out a few ideas that may be helpful in providing for the hunger and thirst that must be satisfied. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.
Stepping stones to Stillness
It is not necessary to be all the time saying prayers aloud. With all the bustle and noise that fills so much of our lives, there is a great need for silence. This can prove a healing remedy for mind and heart and soul and it can be a precious means towards building unity and peace in the home

The prayer on which all prayer rests is the Lord’s own prayer. Each phrase is a stepping stone to the Father who cares for us. It might be good to take one word at a time and rest in it. Father, thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. Cease thinking of your own name. Let go of the concerns of your personal kingdom. Surrender your will to the gracious will of the Father. Be still and know that I am God. Do not try to think things out. Do not try to read other people's thoughts, or trouble yourself with plans for the future. Do not burden yourself with disturbing and distracting detail. Leave those things for their own time, and to those whose task it is to care about such matters.

Likwise in the Hail Mary, you could find rest in the words of acceptance that Our Lady spoke: Be it done unto me according to your word. And in the Glory be you let the glory of God take over the little glory that yoo so often cling to. What is being suggested here, is that you find time to be silent and still. Rest from simply saying prayers to enjoying the Lord and delighting in his presence. Just as we long to sit in silence with those we love, so should we find delight in being still with the Lord.

This lingering in love with the Lord is the secret of meditation. Rest in my love and lose yourself in my presence. You know how friends linger in love, and long to sit in stillness and silence. When you turn to a mystery of the Rosary, be silent and still before you say the decade. Let its fragrance fill your home and your heart with its grace.

Mary our Advocate

2009-07-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

I will send you another Advocate: The text refers primarily to the Holy Spirit, but it is applied to Mary as the Bride of the Spirit and the intercessor with the Lord on our behalf. Like the role of a Barrister who pleads one’s cause before the judge and jury, the most ancient title for Mary is that of Advocate. St. Irenaeus-the first half 2nd century writes: Whereas Eve had disobeyed God, Mary was persuaded to obey God, that the Virgin Mary might become advocate of the virgin Eve."

This role is foreshadowed in the OT. The mother of the king the Gebirah, literally, Great Lady held the exalted office of Queen Mother. Because the kings of Israel normally had numerous wives, the mother of the king was chosen to be the queen. The Gebirah or First Lady of the realm assisted the king in ruling the kingdom. The office and authority of the queen mother in her close relationship to the king made her the strongest advocate to the King the prime intercessor. No one had more intercessory power than the queen mother, who had her own throne at his right side. She it was, who enjoyed the role of choosing the successor to the king, so that this was no mere honorary title. It was one of authority and immense power.

Observe the response of King Solomon (who had 700 wives,) to his mother Bathsheba: The king bowed down to her and had a seat brought for her. She sat on his right. He said to her, Ask anything you wish. I will deny you nothing”1 Kings 2: 19-20) What encouragement for us, to know that the Lord of Heaven speaks such words to the Mary our Advocate. Let us claim them ourselves and on behalf of those for whom we intercede.

At the Annunciation Mary is becomes the new Gebirah, the Mother of the King of kings. She is to be the Advocate with the him who takes possession of the Kingdom of his father David.

At the Visitation, Elizabeth cried out Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me. Lk. 1:44 .The title, Mother of my Lord, the court language of the ancient is fulfilled in Mary.

The 12th century Hail Holy Queen contains the words: Turn, then, O most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy towards us. It is the task of Mary, Advocate for the People of God, to implore the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, at times of special need. Since Mary's role as Advocate is inseparable from the divine action of the Spirit, it will be the Spirit and the Bride who will jointly prepare the world for the glorious return of Christ the King

Faith to conquer the world

2009-04-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

The concluding prayer of the Legion of Mary has these wonderful sentiments: Confer, O Lord, on us, that fullness of faith to which it is given to conquer the world. Grant us a lively faith, animated by charity, a faith, firm and immovable as a rock, a faith which will be our Legion's Pillar of Fire

Faith is of two kinds: Faith in doctrine and faith in action: Faith in the truth of God and faith in the God of truth

Faith is putting all your eggs in God's basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch. Ramona C. Carroll

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Legion speaks of taking Symbolic Action. That is a matter of taking the first step in faith and trusting that the Lord will honour your trust.

It is clear from the Concluding prayer that the faith presented to the Legionary of Mary is something that springs from the fire of charity and moves out courageously to become a pillar of fire. The chosen people in the desert followed the Pillar of fire until it led them into the Promised Land to conquer it for the Lord. Legionaries are in the fore-front of those Chosen people leading them into a place of eternal hope.

As faith is strengthened there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit. Emmanuel Teney This is one of the benefits of being in an organization like the Legion of Mary. You don’t need to be in control. Like Our Lady, you yield in faith to the unknown and the human impossibility: Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let your word be done unto me.

You are not setting to conquer the world on your own or in your own strength. You are part of that Pillar of Fire which is of God’s making and is continually fanned into flame by the grace of your weekly meeting and the support of your officers and fellow members. The faith written of in our concluding prayer is very much a faith that steps out taking the next peaceful step in faith.

You may have heard the story of the watch bought in for repair: “I had great faith in that watch,” said the client to jeweller. "I’m afraid," he replied, “Like Grandmas old clock, it has stopped short—never to go again. Faith’s fine but without good works its not much good. So while trusting the Lord in everything, we still have to expend all our energy in God's service and do everything that is in our human power.

The Venerable Edel Quinn

2009-04-10T00:59:00.000-07:00

The sons and daughters of St. Patrick are ever ready to say: “We have kept the faith.” The founder of the Legion of Mary always went further: “It is not enough to keep the faith, we have to proclaim it—to spread it.”

This is evident in the life of heroic life of the servant of God, Edel Quinn. Going to Africa she would say is not a picnic! In Edel’s heart were engraved those words of Grignion de Montfort that are enshrined in the conluding prayer of the Legion: Confer, O Lord on us who serve beneath the standard of Mary, that fullness of faith in thee and trust in her to which it is given to conquer the world.

This young woman, knew her own frailty, but she put her trust completely in the hands of the God who was her strength. The Eucharist was the food that nourished her soul and while she knew the weakness of body, her daily profession was that of Christ himself: “This is my body given up for you..” What she lacked, she knew God would supply out of his own unlimited resources. And so she conquered, not only the physical territory assigned to her, but she conquered every human heart that has heard her story.

Edel never failed or flinched before the obstacles that lay in her path. We’ve all heard of the swollen river and the hidden bridge beneath the waters and the motorist who would not dare drive through. Edel did not want to fail the waiting expectant legionaries who awaited her. “O Father,” she said, please go on. I’m sure Our Lady will protect us.” The priest couldn’t resist such faith and they drove on.

Edel despite her continual illness never complained, but pushed herself to the ultimate. She was there to serve and be at the disposition of others. She knew the secret of the Scriptures: " Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Mat.16,25

Frank Duff, speaking about Edel in her native Kanturk, remarked on how strongly she attracted people to her. Like St. Francis what brought about this attraction, was the conviction that she was really interested in each one. This should be powerful motive for seeking Venerable Edel Quinn's intercession.

Meditation

2009-04-06T04:55:00.000-07:00

I have just been reading the following by James Bone in new York.

The two surviving Beatles have reunited on stage to promote transcendental meditation among schoolchildren around the world. The reunion came at a concert to bring transcendental meditation to one million schoolchildren. "It started for us when we met the Maharishi in India, and it's going to get bigger and bigger and rule the world," McCartney told the crowd.

What a pity that our Catholic schools are not hearing much about their own tradition of meditation. The few that have been introduced to it are very happy and I would like to hear from some of them. The stillness and security that this practice brings is a blessing beyond description. All that is needed is to set aside a short time of silence and rest and let one of the Christian words of life enter the soul. The sacred word of Jesus will do infinitely more than a mantra from the Maharishi of India. Let the Jesus word linger in your heart in love.

Do no be afraid.

2009-03-26T01:17:00.000-07:00

On the long flight to St. Louis USA, I wondered if I would be able for the journey and the heavy week ahead. From the time of leaving Tallaght to arriving was the best part of 12 hours, but I made up my mind to live just one moment at a time. As the hours passed by on the plane, I recalled the word of St. Catherine of Siena: All the way to heaven is heaven too! So I decided to enjoy every detail to the full.

I remembered the Meditation Group back in the Retreat House and tried to imagine them around and along with me. I kept repeating my sacred word quietly in my inner being: Father, thy will be done. As long as that was being accomplished nothing else mattered. And when I began to falter and be afraid of what lay ahead, I recalled what Joe Dalton once told us: God does not God those who are able. He enables those whom he has called. The following lines came to me and I share them with you now in the hope that you too may find strength from them, in your calling.

For the moment, do not try to think things out.
Do not try to read other people's thoughts,
or trouble yourself with plans for the future.

Live to the full, the present moment,
and let my Annunciation for this time
be made known to you.
You too, have an angel who waits on you.
His dearest wish is to let the light of my love
reveal the way to you.

Do not burden yourself
with disturbing and distracting detail.
Leave those things for their own time,
and to those whose task it is
to care about such matters.

My wish for you, is that you rest in my love
and lose yourself in my presence.
My Son waits for you in the secret place.
Stay there and watch with him,
as you watch and wait
with those who are closest to you.

You know how friends linger in love,
And long to sit alone
in stillness and silence.

Words and thoughts are not necessary,
Plans and projects
can be left to work themselves out.
All that matters is that you let me direct you
in loving and in being loved.

Annunciation Day

2009-03-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

The Readings for this day highlight the words: Here I am Lord, I come to thy will. Mary re-echoes the theme when she Be it done unto me according to your word. We all have our moment of annunciation and are called to lay our lives open to God, that his will,-- his creative word may take flesh in us.

In meditation little else is asked of us, but that we sit in God's presence and let the river of his life and love flow through us. Here I am Lord, I come that your wonderful will may wash me clean and give me a new heart, a new purpose.

Legion of Mary Acies

2009-03-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

Legionaries meet in the familiar homely atmosphere of their praesidium each week to pray and undertake the personal tasks committed to them. That meeting is delightfully described in the Handbook as: A local presence of Mary. We go to our meeting then as one goes on a personal pilgrimage to a holy place of presence. For the Acies, however we are drawn up in battle array, like a great battalion to publicly proclaim allegiance to the Queen of heaven and earth. So there is a note of celebration and consecration about this day.

Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array? The words apply not only to the Queen, but to each one of her faithful legionaries.

You yourself are a rising morning star. In the eyes of God, you too are fairer than the moon, and brighter than the sun. You come before your Queen this day drawn up in battalion array. It is good to acknowledge your own dignity and rejoice in it on this day of celebration.

The Latin word terribilis is hardly well translated into English as terrible. Rather does it mean awesome, wondrous resplendent.” And that’s how Mary sees you in all your splendour. She is waiting to greet you. She appreciates you and thanks you for your service.

Walk then with head held high to the Vexillum of the Legion, and profess your allegiance. This noble Standard is modelled on that of the Roman Legion. Where the eagle was poised, now rests the Holy Spirit. That Spirit rests on you as it rested on the Maid of Nazareth and in the power of the Spirit, you too bring forth Jesus in your life and in the lives of those for whom you work.

Where stood the Emperor beneath the Arch of Triumph to welcome home his battle-weary soldiers, now stands the Empress of Heaven to welcome each one of you to share in the triumph of her Immaculate Heart.

When the Emperor turned his eyes upon the battle-tried soldiers, he not only accepted their expression of loyalty, but rewarded them handsomely for their service. On such occasions, it was the Roman custom to pay out favours to the conquering heroes. These gifts and favours were way beyond the normal rates of pay. They were called charismatic gifts and they denote for us in the our legionary service, the gifts we need for service in the Kingdom of God and his people.

You come then in triumphal procession before heaven and earth this day. While you are an army set in battle array, you are asked to come individually to the Vexillum for thus the Queen sees you. When Bernadette at Lourdes was asked, “Did the Lady look at anyone else but yourself,” she replied: “Yes indeed she did. She Looked all around the crowd and she stopped at some as if they were old familiar friends.” Thus indeed does Our Lady look at each one of you this day. You are not only her loyal servants. You are her old famiiar friends.

You will hold on to the cherished Vexillum, the standard of our Legion and the sign of Victory. You will proclaim the solemn words of your allegiance: “I am all yours, my Queen, my Mother, and all I have is yours.” Be sure of this, the Queen will be more than gracious to you. Thus she speaks to each one of you: “I see your hand stretched out to my sign of victory, and know this: My hands reach out to you. You are bringing about the triumph of my Immaculate Heart and from that Heart I answer: “Beloved Legionary I am yours and all I have is yours."

Rosary Confraternity Part Four

2009-03-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Enrichment and evangelization
Any Rosary group operating today, or, indeed, anyone who prays the Rosary, can only enhance their prayer by affiliation to the Confraternity. The apostolate of the Rosary is not limited to gathering more people in, but must reach out with a whole programme of spiritual enrichment and evangelisation.

Do not fear that in placing in Mary's hands the fruit of your works to be shared among others, you may lose out. You are dealing with a gracious Queen, who will treat you like the prince or princess you are. Blessed Alan de la Roche points out that since we are dealing with spiritual food, and not with material things, sharing with others does not mean loss. The more mouths there are for bodily bread the less there is to go round. The bread of heaven, on the other hand, kneaded with the yeast of faith, hope and love, increases the more it is divided.

Obligations of membership

1 To be affiliated, a person's name must be enrolled on the register in a church where the Confraternity has been established.

2 Members of the Rosary Confraternity are asked to say, at the very least, the complete round of fifteen decades within the week. To encourage a slower pace and a lingering rhythm, they are given the privilege of breaking up the decades any way they wish.

3 They must meditate or contemplate the mysteries to the best of their ability.

Privileges

1 The special protection of the Mother of God in life and at the hour of death.

2 A share in the prayers and good works of all the members worldwide.

3 Over and above the plenary indulgence granted to all who pray the Rosary in the family or in a group or religious communiry, there are special plenary indulgences for members of the Rosary Confraternity on the day of admission, on the feasts of Christmas, Easter, the Annunciation, the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception, the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple.

Further information can be had from any Dominican priory or Rosary centre.

The Rosary Confraternity Part Three

2009-03-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Anyone familiar with this original teaching will see the source from which St Louis Marie de Montfort drew to form his own True Devotion to Mary. We know from the Saint's own words, that what troubled him was that in his day there did not exist any true Rosary Confraternity. So he set himself about remedying the matter.

Dominican praise of de Montfort
Little wonder that the Provincial of the Dominican Order commended him, in this statement still in existence:
We, the Provincial of the Order of Preachers, do certify, that Louis Grignion de Monrfort, Brother of our Third Order, preaches everywhere and with much zeal, edification and fruit, the Confraternity of the Rosary in all the Missions which he gives continually in the towns and country places.

Frank Duff and the Legion of Mary
Once, when discussing this matter with the founder of the Legion of Mary, Frank Duff told me, that had he been aware of this background to the Rosary Confraternity, he would have made it the basis for the Legion spiriruality. The idea of beginning with a serious consecration and entrustment to Mary, and the concept of spirirual sharing and participating, are essential elements common to the Legion and to the Rosary Confraternity.

The Rosary Confraternity Part Two

2009-03-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

A complete consecration to Jesus and Mary
This sharing is not confined to the saying of prayers, but embraces concern for the whole spiritual and bodily welfare of one's companions. It is primarily concerned with the sharing of the supernatural values, which arise from the intercessory prayer and good works of all members. Those who wish to join, are asked to make a complete consecration of themselves to the Blessed Virgin, allowing her, in her gracious wisdom, to share out the combined treasury of grace with the whole group. We can see from this, that what we are talking about in the true Rosary fellowship, is not a question of counting of heads, or being together in one place or united in one voice. The oneness aimed at is a oneness in Christ.

William Pepin
That other great preacher of the Rosary Confraternity, William Pepin, a contemporary of Michael de Insulis, has left us a splendid collection of sermons on this subject of the shared spirituality of the Rosary. He pointed to the text: All that I have, is yours...' Luke 15:31: which comes from rhe story of the Prodigal Son. The father gives the elder son a powerful lesson in the matter of sharing with his brother. In those words, 'All that is mine, is yours,' the father is telling him to assume the authority of an elder brother. The generous father tells his first-born that he is perfectly entitled, indeed obliged, to go into the family treasure- room, and take out what is necessary for the younger needy one. He is being challenged to put the cloak of mercy on his brother's back, to put the shoes on his feet, and the ring of loving relationship on his finger. The cloak is for protection, the shoes are for freedom - only slaves went barefoot. The ring symbolises love, friendship, covenant relationship. Celebrate our brothers and sisters

Members of the true Rosary Confraternity are expected to exercise this same ministry towards their fellow members, that is to support and upbuild each other as the Father of the Prodigal did and as the Elder Brother ought to have done. These are the qualities of confraternity, united brother/sisterhood, which brings with it genuine respect and generous sharing. Far from the begrudgery of one who has 'slaved all these years', the long-standing elders should realise that everything the father has is already their own, and that they are perfectly entitled to kill the fatted calf themselves and to celebrate their brothers and sisters. They claim that authority, not for their own selfish interests, but for the common good of all.

Step out wth head held high
The Book of Revelation speaks of those who win the victory and are given the right to share the throne. Rosary leaders then, have should not disclaim this God-given authority. If, out of false humility, they do so, then others suffer by their failure to act as true elder brorhers or sisters. William Pepin continues: every member of the Rosary Confraternity should step out with head held high, not only to claim personal inheritance, but to share it in a spirit of Christian fellowship. As princes and princesses of the royal blood we enjoy innumerable privileges which, however, bring with them obligations of love and service in the royal household of the Confraternity.

The Rosary Confraternity Part One

2009-03-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Rosary Confraternity, the official society of the Rosary is often presented in terms of the
obligations and privileges with which it has been enriched by the Church. There are indeed certain prayers to be said and there are blessings to be gained, but if one is to enter into the depths beneath these duties and graces one must search for the spirituality that initially inspired this society.

Alan de la Roche and his spiritual son St.Grignion de Montfort
Alan de la Roche who gives testimony to the Dominican origins of the Rosary describes the Confraternity in amazingly strong terms: the Society of the Slaves of Jesus and Mary in the Chain of the Rosary.

The holy and willing slavery together with the chain of the Rosary form the basis of the
brother/sisterhood. Alan gives a detailed account of how the members entrust themselves as loyal and loving servants to the Queen of heaven, and how they mutually support each other by the sharing of spiritual riches. St. Grignion de Montfort several centuries later seems to have taken inspiration from this statement when he preached the true devotion to Mary.

Napoleonic war booty
It was in the year 1486 that Michael de Insulis appeared in the University of Cologne at the time of public debates, with his Defence of the Rosary Confraternity. This author's work was so important and so beautifully designed and illustrated that the five copies that existed in Italy were seized as war booty by Napoleon and brought to the National Library in Paris, where they are to be found today.

Francois de Lillle
The teaching of Michael de Insulis, or Francois de Lille as he is named in the Paris catalogue, is of profound importance for an understanding of the true nature of the Rosary Confraternity. He made it clear that fraternity or fellowship in the Holy Spirit was an essential element of the Rosary as a shared prayer. He took his inspiration from verse 3 of Psalm 118: I share as companion with all those who keep your law.

The picture above is of the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, Ireland. No words were spoken, but the silence and the imagery are eloquent. One can sit before the Lamb on the Altar and find stillness and security.

True Devotion to the Rosary

2009-03-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

First time I heard of the Rosary Confraternity I was turned off. The literature at the time seemed a kind of Holy Algebra. Do ABC and you get XYZ in return! It was a matter of performing this and that and expecting a free hand-out. The whole thing appeared cheap.

It was only when discovering the original thrust of the Confraternity that I began to make sense. In particular I came across the Golden Book of Alan de la Roche, (Opus aureum Alani de Rupensis) and found that he was the legitimate ancestor of St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort and the True Devotion to Mary. The spirituality of de Montfort and all the detail of his work as devleoped later by his Congregation, are a replica of the original thrust of the Rosary Brother/Sisterhood.

It would seem that in the centuries following Alan de la Roche and his associates, that Dominicans let the meat fall out of the sandwich! In the Posts to follow I have endeavourd to reclaim the true nature of this great Rosary Society. I would indeed welcome comment from you, dear reader. In particular I would wish to explain to members of the Legion of Mary, that the statement made by Frank Duff, their Holy Founder, was a purely private remark. There were two witnesses, but they have long since gone to their reward. (See section Frank Duff and the Legion of Mary)

A Place of Sanctuary

2009-03-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

I have just arrived back from my visit to St. Louis, Missouri where I have seen the magnificent site proposed for a Sanctuary of the Rosary. It is a former convent situated on 140 acres of wooded land overlooking the lorldly Mississippi River. Seldom have I set foot in a more awe-inspiring location. The view from the Convent building is breathtaking and with wild deer roaming about and birds singing in the woods, this is indeed a place of sanctuary. Heaven and earth come close here. It is surely a sacred space where the visitor feels urged as Moses was, to take one's shoes for this is holy ground.

Mary Broome, who was my host tells me that since 2003, the Year of the Rosary, the St. Louis Division of the World Apostolate of Fatima has been searching for a suitable location to establish a Shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary. I believe that they have found such a spot. With the spacious grounds and the large building on it, this is destined to become not only a Shrine, but a place of stillness and security that makes it a veritable sanctuary. Picture above shows the building that is at present on the site and gives some idea of the splendour of the place as it looks down on the flowing water of the Mississippi river.

The immediate problem is that the money needed to have this dream come true, the sum of 4.5 million dollars is needed. It seems an impossible dream, but the fact is that this sum for 140 acres of land close to the city and in such an overwhelmingly splendid situation is like a gift from heaven. To help with the dream and the gift, donations can be sent to:
Rosary Shrine Fund,
PO Box 31353
St. Louis, Missouri, 63131

Entwined in love

2009-02-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

The Lourdes Novena in our Priory, Tallaght, was conducted by the Parish Priest, Fr.Dermot Brennan, OP. Fr. Dermot has given many splendid years of his ministry to the care of the sick and the dying, and this was vividly illustrated by the many moving stories he told during the Novena. One of these I wish to recount, though if you want to hear more, you may just have to look out for the next time he is conducting the Novena. See him at work, in front of his computer

The story as I recall it runs: ( for reasons of privacy, I am changing the names and other details)

John was in the Hospice badly deformed and in continual pain. It was not easy to look at him or speak to him. However, there was this lady, Margaret, who had been his teacher and trainer in the Hospice, and she made it her business to visit him every day. She would just make eye contact and speak gently and hope that he could understand.

Very often, all that would happen is that she would stretch out her hand on the bed towards the patient. She would spend long hours with him-- just being there. "But one day." said Fr.Dermot, "I slipped in and notice that their two hands and arms were entwined, which indeed seemed an almost impossible situation, as John's arm was twisted and deformed.

Something deep within me, made me think-- these two are in love!" And so things turned out to be, though no one else had noticed.

The staff and the family were brought together and all wondered at the marvel of human love and devotion that had developed in that Hospice room. When the death notice appeared in the papers, the obituary mentioned Margaret and referred to her as John's fiance.

As the preacher and gifted story-teller was coming to last lines of his tale, I can't deny that I had to wipe a tear away.

Love, human and divine is a blessing. But as Fr.Dermot himself added, "and how easily we might have missed the wonder of it all. Watch out today and in your own situation for the hidden glory that may be be around and beside you."

Celibates-Living Signs

2009-02-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

Celibates are sign-posts, but they must be living signs. They must not be wooden signs pointing to the kingdom, but not going in themselves. We, who are led to love must lead to love.There is no other path for us. We can show no other path to others.

Those who seek Jesus as the Reconciler will place all their trust in him. He understands their particular human needs and will alleviate them through each other according to their trust in him. Sincere souls will come to understand the magnanimity of Christ and be wounded and touched by his tender compassion. They will find their needs understood in ways that are extraordinary. You will find your flesh in your spirit,if your spirit is in God. Under the guidance of the Divine Humanity, you will find fulfilment.

Place Jesus in majesty at the deepest level of human longing and he will lead you into the kingdom. If the Word made flesh dwells in you, and that means human cooperation, you will be a companion of Jesus and you will have the courage to love. You will never do anything but what you do before his face. His command is to love before his face. Do not be negative in loving. Delight God in love and he will give you a land flowing with milk and honey, no longer barren and dry, but resplendent with life.

A Call to chastity- a Call to Love

2009-02-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

The following are words that came to a certain lady as she waited on the Lord one day. I have embodied them and made them my own in the book, A Celibate way of Loving, published by Columba Press, Co. Dublin.

"The enjoyment of natural love is from me. Those who seek to love beyond, without or far from me, may for a time enjoy a purely physical sensation, which when shriven of its initial attraction leaves emptiness and bitterness, leaving the souls far from me. If I am sought through human loving. If I am understood and accepted as the author, giver and source of love, then my support, my tenderness and my power will give to those who love, an understanding of the true meaning of love and of human life.

I will divinise natural love between persons who seek to love through my Divine Humanity. Celibates depending on my Divine Humanity will receive support whereby they may love humanly while remaining faithful to me. They will find freedom to show great affection. Trust in me, will carry them through difficulties. By loving each other while placing all their trust in me, the love and gratitude of their hearts for me will be deepened. I will enter into your flesh and chasten it and make it sweet to love. Love without expression, if expression can help or heal another, is sterile. I have called you to love, and thus to love each other. If you do not first find me, you will be unable to love. I will be in your loving and you will find it sweet to love. Know me as the Divine Humanity.

Along the secret stair

2009-02-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

On a dark night

When Love burned bright

Consuming all my care,

While my house slept,

Unseen, I crept

Along the secret stair.

So wrote St. John of the Cross (left) as he escaped from the dungeon where he had been imprisoned at Toledo. One can see the diminutive figure of the heroic friar, as he crept along the secret dark passages in his escape to the devoted Discalced nuns of St Teresa of Avila.

During the long lonely nights of enforced darkness and desolation, when human love had forsaken him, the great bright light of Divine Love burned brightly within him. With the little loves of this world asleep in the house of his being, his eager heart led him on to where none but the Lover of his soul awaited him.

A guide as bright

As noonday light,

Which brought me where none but he

Could wait for me

And make his presence felt.

While few of us can rise to the heights of divine love as expressed in these verses of St.John of the Cross, we can all creep along the secret stair the Lord reveals to each one of us. For myself, the sacred steps of the rosary have been that stairway.

From the basic steps of the Lord's Prayer along the pathways of the Hail Marys and through the caverns of the blessed mysteries, I have found stillness and security, holding on to the life-line of my Rosary-beads. What is your life-line? Pray that you may find your secret stair?

Prayer for Divine Love

2009-02-04T03:28:00.000-08:00

O! Most Holy Trinity grant your holy wisdom
to men and women, celibate and married,
that they may seek to love
through the Divine Humanity of Jesus.

Through the burning love of his Heart,
through his sacred wounds,
pour light into our souls so that all may understand
that lasting love and its true enjoyment
is only possible through Jesus, the Reconciler.

Mary, Immaculate, Queen of the Universe,
Mother of God, be with us in our love.

O Divine Humanity, I crave
for the Church and for the world
and understanding of thy unique, beautiful
and all satisfying love.
O heal the wounds of sin carried
by your children for so long.

O rhythm of Divine Love,
pulsate through all creation,
so that we may reach that fulness of love
for which you minutely designed us.

O good God, let us enjoy you and each other
in the harmony of your love.
Pulsating love of our Trinitarian God,
Sweep mightily through your expectantcreation.
Cf. Romans 8,22

The above prayer is taken from my book:
A Celibate Way of Loving,
published by The Columba Press
55A Spruce Ave.
Stillorgan Industrial Park,
Blackrock, Co. Dublin
www.columba.ie

The splendour of silence

2009-02-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

There is an spirit of stillness and silence about this picture by Fra Angelico. The artist shows Christ being mocked and crowned with thorns. He is blindfolded, but in the silence he sees and hears all. Mary sits beneath,-- pondering these things in her heart. On the other side is St. Dominic with the Gospel on his knees, as he keeps Our Lady company, meditating on the mystery. I have already described the Rosary as so many stepping stones to silence.

Aldous Huxley remarked that the 20th century was the Age of Noise: He spoke of radio nothing as a medium through which din can flow into our homes. What might he have thought of the tyranny of the Box in the corner of the living room?

John Connell founder of the UK Noise Abatement Society noted, "noise is the forgotten pollutant in our society," Given the important relationship between silence and the ability to think, it is no wonder we live in a more thoughtless society. These days a hospital ward with its hustle and bustle, is no more immune to the scourge of noise than a panel- beater's workshop. So writes George Winterfrom whom I have been borrowed some of these lines.

George Winter continues: "It is worth reiterating what has been known for some time: Noise can induce hearing loss, delay healing, impair immune function, raise blood pressure, and increase stress.

At our JOHN MAIN meditation group in the Dominican Priory, Tallaght, one of our speakers read from George Winter's article and went on to speak of discovering the wonder of our own being, and the delight we experience, as we listen to the inner rhythm that issues from silence and stillness. We become like the infant resting on its mother's breast as mentioned in Psalm 131: I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a child at its mother’s breast; like ac child that is quieted is my soul.

Observe the active tone of those verbs—stilled and quieted. It is not a matter of things just happening by some fortunate chance. The author of the Psalm has taken definite steps to ensure that stillness and silence work their way into the mind and heart and soul. Silence is not the simple negation of noise. It is a dynamic and positive drive that lets life flourish and become a blessing to all around. How often we find healing in the haven of stillness that emanates from a person of peaceful silence. Lord make me an instrument of your peace.

Go slow, -- Stay low, -- Don’t blow!

2009-01-26T02:25:00.000-08:00

Joe was always ready to fly off the handle. He was full of anxiety and tension, -- all part of his racing restless mind. He was a good man with high ideals, a little too high at times. At least, they were beyond his reach for the moment. He needed to take one day at a time, to slow down in his rush for the stars. It would have been good if he could have taken on board the sentiment of the 17th century Blaise Pascal that “all the troubles of the world stem from the fact that we cannot sit still in a room.”

If he had met the right kind of girl who would have listened, not just to his mind, but to his fast-beating heart, perhaps he might have found the stillness that would have healed him. She could have told him of Meister Eckhart the 14th century Dominican friar who said that
“nothing in all creation is so like to God as stillness.”

At a prayer meeting one night, they told him not to trample the flowers under his feet as he rushed on headlong to achieve his ambition. Someone spoke these words: Go slow, stay low and don’t blow! He’s now praying, “Slow me down Lord and help me not to blow it every time I open my mouth.”

Joe hasn’t yet found the girl who would touch his heart, but he has learnt a few lessons from his little furry black cat. She sleeps a lot, cuddles up to the hot pipes and stretches herself in the sun. She is stay low personified. But when the time is right, she springs into action, climbs trees, chases birds and murders small mice. She could teach any human being how to be a contemplative like Mary and a woman of action like Martha—all in one.

St. Louis, Missouri

2009-01-20T03:45:00.000-08:00

I have just been invited to come to the city of

St.Louis, Missouri, USA

to talk with some friends who are hoping

to start an Open-air Shrine of the Rosary.

At the age of 88, it seems a little crazy

to be setting off this distance.

It is about 1,500 miles further West than New York,

so I ask you to pray that I may get there all in one piece.

I hope to fly out from Dublin, early in March and stay for six days.

For further information on the Rosary see www.worldpriest.com

The Rosary and Contemplation

2009-01-20T00:43:00.001-08:00

St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort says, “the Rosary cannot possibly harm the sweet smelling flowers of your contemplation, for it is a heavenly tree and its scent is beautiful. Clearly, de Montfort sees the Rosary not just as a one-fit-all formula of prayer, but as a living organic growth leading to deep contemplation and sweet rest in the Lord. At the same time, he warns against those who seem to soar like eagles to what they personally think to be a height of contemplation, when in fact they may have been pitifully led astray. “I found out how wrong they were,” he says, “when I observed how they considered the Hail Mary and the Rosary beneath them.” He sees the Rosary as “ this easy form of meditation before progressing to the highest state of contemplation.”

“Even then,” he adds, “if by the grace of God, you have already reached a high level of prayer, keep up the practice of saying the Rosary, if you wish to remain in that state and if you hope, through it to grow in humility. On the other hand, if Almighty God in his infinite mercy draws you to him as forcibly as he did some of the saints while saying the Rosary, make yourself passive in his hands and let yourself be drawn towards him. Let God work and pray in you and let him say your Rosary in his way and this will be enough for the day.”

For the Lourdes Novena

2009-01-20T00:36:00.000-08:00

The Lady looked at me,
She smiled
and said: “Come Closer.”

These three simple statements from

the lips of the little child at the Grotto,

sum up the heart of the Lourdes message.

When the young Bernadette knelt enraptured before the Lady of the Grotto in Lourdes, she didn’t even know that there were mysteries to the Rosary. For all that, she was a mystic in the making, for she knew how to be still and linger in love. “I simply looked at the Lady and she looked at me and smiled.” Bernadette knew something simpler yet deeper than the saying of words and the thinking of thoughts. She had the sense of divine presence and heaven was very close. “The grotto was my heaven on earth.” It was for her,-- a holy communion.

The Parish priest was at first sceptical and asked for a sign. “Tell the Lady, to make the wild rose at her feet burst into bloom and then I’ll believe.” It was February and the icy winds of the Pyranees were cutting through the bones of the people and through the bushes and brambles of the Massabielle rock. It was not the season for roses.

The physical miracle did not happen, but the breath of the Spirit blew through the valley, and the desert began to blossom like the rose of Sharon. Here, is an image of the splendour that can bring honey out of the rock and living water to wash our souls in the Siloe of stillness and silence.

For the one who has grown to maturity in the Rosary, it is often enough to simply hold on to the blessed beads and let them blossom and emit their own healing fragrance. Before ever the beads have been in our soiled hands, the mother of God has come with them in her sacred hands. They are her jewels and she entrusts them to us poor sinners. We hold them and touch them in faith, as the woman of the Gospel reached out to touch the hem of the Lord’s garment.

In our Winter weakness, may we help even a little to make the wild rose bloom in our valley. Just as there is no end to the variety of the rose family, so the garden of the Rosary continues to bring forth fresh and varied blooms.

The busy mind is a troubled mind

2009-01-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

The busy mind is a troubled mind,
the quiet mind is a wholesome mind,
but the still mind is a divine mind.

John who was letting things get him down by excessive care and concern for detail heard these words, as he prayed.

“Just now, don't try to reason things out. Don't be concerned by what other people think of you, or what their plans and projects may be. Don't let the future hem you in or let the past invade your present space.

Just take up your beads and let my Annunciation for this day reveal itself sweetly and surely to you. You too, have an angel who waits on you. His dearest wish is to let the light of my love reveal the way to you. Don't concern yourself with complicated detail. Leave to others those things which are their concern and which they will deal with in their own time.

My wish for you, is that you rest in my love and lose yourself in my presence. I wait for you in every situation of your life. Trust me and be still.

Relate to me, as you relate to your beloved, only more so. You know how she truly loves you, and how you long to sit with her in sheer silence. Words are not necessary. All that matters is that you let me direct you in loving and in being loved.”

John was a married man with a lot of business to attend to, yet the Lord made it clear to him that he would accomplish more in stillness and silence than in undue haste and anxiety. Sometime later, he was led into a weekly meditation group and now spends half an hour morning and evening in the practice of wordless and imageless prayer.

The man I write of was the owner of a chain of stores and had his name in bold bright letters over each one of them. John Laskey and Sons Ltd! Night and day, he pondered that sign of his prosperity until he was, as he told me “full of himself.” The day came however, when things started to go sour. A far greater multinational chain-store than his came to town and he was forced out of business. A physical illness and a mental depression brought him into a dark night of loneliness and despair.

This was the time that my friend took to prayer in a serious way. Looking back now, he realises that everything was providentially planned by a God who is not only wise but full of love. His own name once written big and bold on his store sign, has given way to a greater name. His mantra has become: Father, hallowed be thy name! He would recall the words of the poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson:

Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

Here is the Celebration!

2009-01-20T00:16:00.000-08:00

Joseph took to bed for Christmas—nothing to do with Santa or the shopping, just a man’s sized dose of the flu. He was disappointed with not being able to fulfil his role as Eucharistic minister.

He asked his daughter Joan to stand in for him, and when she returned full of the joys of Mass and the heart-warming sound of the Christmas carols, Don sadly remarked, “I missed the celebration.”

Joan with her engaging smile, immediately held up the Sacred Host, she had brought from the Church and said: "Daddy, here is the celebration!”

When I told the story to a friend, she remarked, “Joseph was there, really. It happened to me once, when I slept in and missed the 10.30 Mass. In a vision, I saw myself in my Sunday coat kneeling in my usual place. You know, God takes the desire for the deed.”

For the Inner grace of the Rosary

2009-01-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

O Virgin Mother, grant that the recitation of your Rosary
may be for me each day, in the midst of occupations,
a bond of unity in my actions,
a sweet refreshment and an encouragement
to walk joyfully along the path of duty.
Grant above all, O dearest Mother,
that the contemplation of the sacred mysteries
may form in my soul, little by little,
a spiritual atmosphere,
which will penetrate my understanding,
my will, my heart, my memory.
Let my imagination, my whole being
acquire a habit of praying while I work,
without the use of formal prayers,
by interior acts
especially by aspirations of love
By a French Dominican

Because I said so

2009-01-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

Anne Marie liked to take the children to the Cinema from time to time, but was careful to pick what she thought would be right and proper for them to see. Like all parents, she was watchful for anything might not be quite right for her lovely family. This time however, one of the more daring daughters suggested that they would do the choosing. So along they all went and were settling down to their crisps and sweets.

The film was about a mother and her teen-age daughter, and Eileen cocked her ear as she heard the line from the mother: “Because I said so!” When the same line began to repeat itself, Eileen seemed to recognize it. "What am I doing here," she whispered? Is this daughter of mine trying to tell me something.

St. Paul is firm in telling children to honour and obey their parents, but he is equally firm in telling parents not to provoke their children. In itself, parental authority like any other authority is an excellent thing. Authority exercised with love and prudence and sensitivity is a source of security and provides the direction we need.

There may be danger in overdoing the Because I said so! side, but without someone to tell us the truth and to give sound advice, where would we be? In matters of faith, it is the supreme norm. Ultimately, I accept the doctrine of the Real Presence Christ in the Eucharist, because he says so. When Jesus asked, “Will you too go away?” Peter replied: “Lord to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life.

Thank God for parents, teachers and priests who tell us in words of life, --what is so, and why it is so.

Larger than life@God.com

2009-01-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

We were glad to receive a copy of the latest book Larger than life@God.com by our Dominican colleague, Fr. Vincent Travers. The title brings it right into the present high tec area of experience. We hear that it is flying off the shelves and you may well come across Fr. Vincent face to face, as he is moving round parishes that make him welcome. In his engaging way, he told me he is a bit like Jesus, asking to have doors open to him to preach the word in speech and in writing every Sunday.

Commenting Larger than Life@God.com, Fr. Paul Murray who teaches in Rome, remarked: "It is a great, fresh and bracing breeze of light and truth."

Frank Duff and the Economic Crisis

2009-01-15T04:22:00.000-08:00

We are at present experiencing a crisis of authority and leadership both in Church and in state. Authority need not be a bad word. It derives from the word Author, which conjures up the notions of creativity and inventiveness. It implies and enabler an encourager. An encourager is one who can put new heart into another. From the Latin en--cor-agere

Jesus spoke with the authority of a leader. A good leader provides security. I may know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future in his hands.

A Leader is one who like Jesus, has to go alone into the desert. He may be a voice crying in the wilderness. But he really is a Voice with Capital V and he speaks not only in the wilderness but from the wilderness. Remember what Moses did there. By the power of God, he provided bread in the wilderness, --which is indeed the model for our time of economic crisis.

The Irish Bishops in 1999, when the Celtic Tiger was at the height of its roar, issued a Document that has proved prophetic: Prosperity with a Purpose subtitled: Christian faith and values in a time of economic growth. I quote: “The implications of cash alone being the reason why a job is done well and the loss of any sense of vocation are nowhere more damaging than in the public sector.”

Pope John Paul II wrote: “People demean their own dignity when they measure the value of their work they do by the measuring stick of money. Moderation in hours of work in the interest health and personal development.

Oliver Goldsmith Ill fares the land where wealth accumulates and men decay.

The Legion of Mary Handbook has a section that is relevant to our present financial crisis: True Devotion to the Nation: “When parts of the Community are misfits--then communities work at a terrible price of poverty, frustration and unhappiness. Money and effort are poured out to drive parts which should be moving effortlessly, or which indeed should be sources of power. Results: problems, turmoil, crises.”

Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion had a profound sense of the need for good leadership. He tells how he went to Eamon deValera, head of the Irish government, to ask what was the secret of good leadership. Dev, as he was affectionately known, opened a drawer and took out a note from a former Irish patriot named Fintan Lawlor, which read: The people will follow the flag that floats nearest to the stars.

They tell of deValera, that when he wished to know what was good for Ireland, he simply looked into his own heart. People laughed at the remark. Truth, however, is that the prophetic leader has to do just that-- go alone into the desert to search for the truth. He has to search his own heart and listen to voice of God.

While leaders struggle with the demands and distresses of the land, it is good to know that there is an Inner Land and and an Inner Voice that must be attended to. The Church in the Modern world of Vatican 2 speaks of the inner voice of Conscience as: “A voice within the sanctuary of man, alone with God whose voice echoes within him."

Pope John Paul II wrote: that conscience is an interior dialogue of man with himself, as well as a dialogue of man with God---the reflection of God’s creative wisdom which like an imperishable spark shines in the heart. Our task at this time of crisis of authority and leadership is to rediscover that imperishable spark.

Christmas story

2009-01-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

The old Parish Priest was kneeling before the new crib, when he noticed that the infant Jeus was missing. As he was wondering and worrying what might have happenned, he heard the patter of a child coming up the church. She had a doll's pram out of which she took the infant statue and placed it back safely in the manger.

I prayed to Jesus that he would give me a pram and I promised that if he did so I would give him the first ride in it, she said.

Maybe I could be a child again and tell the Lord that I will put him first in my life.

I will heal you through each other

2009-01-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

Healing is not confined to extraordinary charismatic leaders. There is a normative low-key healing always at work in the body of Christ. This operates as an interactive process among the members of a praying group. Expectant faith and unwavering hope can make wonderful things happen. While we thank God for the highly graced ones in the healing ministry we must not, in our rush to meet the stars, miss the flowers beneath our feet.

Apart from actual prayer sessions, listening to a friend in trouble, being available at the other end of a phone, cooking meals, caring for sick children or aged parents, co-operating graciously with those in the office or workshop, - these are important elements in the whole healing structure.

When one thinks of the hurt done by harsh words, anger, pride, arrogance and lack of forgiveness, then it becomes obvious that their opposites, love, kindness and consideration, are basic to the ministry of healing. How many ulcers, headaches, heart-aches and sheer mental torture and sexual pain could be avoided if people would just be loving towards each other. I don't have to wait for some great character to come to town . Healing begins with me! It is in my heart and in my hands! The Lord says: “I will heal you through each other.”

Lord Jesus, in your love I was created.
Every breath I take, every morning I wake,
and every moment of every hour,
I live under your power.
Fill me with the healing power of your love.
Cast out anything that should not be in me.
Mend what is broken.

Let the warmth of your healing love
pass through my body, soul and spirit,
to make new any unhealthy areas
Restore me to full health,
in mind and body soul and spirit,
and lead me into the ways of stillness and peace.

Adapted from a prayer by Fr.Larry Hess

Use of Holy Oil

2009-01-06T01:36:00.000-08:00

Pere Bernard of Toulouse in his classic Le Triple Rosaire tells members of the Confraternity to take the oil from the lamp burning before the Rosary Altar and bring it to the sick. He cites the example of the members in Milan who anoint themselves with this oil and receive a great number of cures. He tells them to invoke the names of Jesus and Mary as they do so. He also gave a form of blessing to go with the anointing:

May the Lord Jesus Christ
heal you from this illness and anxiety,
through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A colleague of my own, relates how the old women of Tralee, Co. in the south of Ireland, would pull down the lamp at the Rosary altar and dip cotton wool in it to take home. They must have been acting under some old instruction, though no one was quite sure and nobody dared stop them or ask why.

I like to first rest with patients, endeavouring to listen with the ears of Jesus, looking with his eyes and reaching out with something of his touch. That demands faith in my own Christian charism and helps to evoke the same attitude in the person before me. Having listened and looked awhile I bless the beads of the sick persons and invite them to join me in saying at least one decade of the Rosary.

Healing of memories Prayer

2009-01-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

Jesus, Son of the living God,
I desire to recall the memory of your healing life, death and glory.
Through the power of your saving mysteries,
touch every area of my being.
Let my coming into this world be renewed
by your own birth at Bethlehem.
Let your precious death remove from me all fear of death.
Grant me to know the power which comes
from your glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Through the grace of these Rosary mysteries,
touch every area of my life and be Lord of all that I am and all that I have.
O Mary, who first opened yourself to this new creation,
pray for me a sinner, that I may be renewed in the love of my Lord.

The Healing Light of the Rosary

2009-01-06T01:25:00.000-08:00

There's healing in touching the very beads themselves, a lowly healing maybe, yet something basic and instinctive. When all around is collapsing and the centre cannot hold, it is something to latch on to. “Worry beads” are universal. They let the sense of touch do its healing work. The fretful child lulls itself to sleep clutching a much loved teddy bear. A frightened adult reaches for a comforting hand in times of stress. Heaven has its own psychology, and the Rosary beads must have a high rating in its pain department!

Robert Llewelyn, formerly chaplain to the Julian of Norwich Society writes thus of the Rosary as an instrument of healing : “ Go round the whole body, making each part, an object of attention or awareness, saying the Rosary prayers at the same time. Thus, be aware of the heart centre. Let your mind descend into the heart. You are directing the healing energy of love to that part of your body. Then go round your body, mentally taking one or two beads for each part, shoulder, arms, hands, the brow, the face, the jaw... In this way, you bring healing to every part of your body, and thus to every part of yourself, that body-soul complex which makes up each one of us. Perhaps, one half of the hospital beds in the country would be emptied, if everyone were to spend fifteen minutes on this each day...!”

Something and someone to hold on to
Not just something, but someone! The sacred string of beads is something to hold on to, indeed. But more importantly, someone to hold on to! It is the Nurse of heaven who holds the other end of the golden string. Nurse of the shining white Lamb as an Irish poet called her, Mary invites us to grasp this life-line. The beads enshrine her precious and sacred secrets. They hold the healing blood-medicine of the Saviour. Down the centuries, the beads have been used in the ministry of healing. St. Louis Bertrand, the Spanish apostle of New Granada, was accustomed to carry a large Rosary round his neck, and one of his favourite practices was to place it about the neck of sick persons. The chronicler tells, how when he did this with the Countess of Albayda, her illness immediately vanished.

On another occasion, he spoke more decidedly to a spiritual confidante, saying directly. “God in His mercy granted that this Rosary should raise the dead to life.” Thus his devotion to the Rosary betrayed him into revealing a miracle he had sought to conceal, the raising of a girl to life during his South American mission. The report spread among the natives and reached Valencia, but the Saint would neither acknowledge or deny its truth. Once when asked so directly that he could not hedge, he replied: “What makes you ask such a question? God does what a blacksmith would do, when making an iron tool. He has made many suitable pieces of material and selects the one he pleases, although all are fit for his purpose.”

Healing figures highly with many rosary groups to-day, and it is usual to give a blessing for this purpose to the beads which the members freely use in the manner of the Spanish saint mentioned. As part of this blessing the following words occur:

Father of mercy , heal the sick who touch these beads
with faith, hope and love,
and may healing power go out from the Gospel mysteries,
which we contemplate and celebrate
to transform us into the likeness of Jesus,
and make us strong with all the strength
which comes from his Divine Humanity.

With the beads around the neck, or in the hands of the sick person, I like to read the text from Mark 5:

There was a woman who suffered terribly
even though she had been to many doctors...
She touched his cloak and her bleeding stopped at once...
Jesus knew that power had gone out from him,
so he turned round in the crowd and asked:
“Who touched my clothes?”

Jesus, whom we touch in every mystery of the Rosary, is still the source of power, and the author of healing. As we make contact with the simple string of beads, it is as if we were touching the hem of his garment, the very edge of eternity. All the while I like to place the focus of healing on touching the person of the Lord rather than the actual beads. I invite people to enter into the contemplative flow of the prayer and to make contact with the life-giving mysteries which are the soul of the Rosary. I composed the following prayer which brings our personal experience into line with the life-experience of the Lord himself:

The Lord is with you

2009-01-06T01:18:00.000-08:00

Over in the West of Ireland, I was made welcome for a Rosary Novena by a wonderful woman who had organised the whole event. Each day we walked on the strand near Ballina, while we prayed and talked things over. At the end, she said: “I'll miss you when you're gone. Please write something in my autograph book so that I'll remember this Novena.” I thought of writing something lovely, like” God gave us memory, so that we might have roses in December”, but instead I jotted down: “Nan, the Lord is with you.”

Nan looked disappointed. The words were so few, and seemingly so uninspiring. So I added to the little message: “This is all our Lady knew, but it was enough. It is everything.”

The truth is, that these words: The Lord is with you, are covenant words. They are a summary of all God's promises throughout the sacred scriptures. These are the words God spoke to Joshua when he was frightened of leading the people of Israel into the promised land. It was feared that there were giants in the land and that the people would be devoured like grasshoppers before them. Not feeling up to the stature of the great Moses, Joshua needed to hear these words of the Lord:

“My servant Moses is dead. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread, I have given you, as I promised to Moses. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you, wherever you go.” (Joshua 1)

That is the very stuff of the covenant: I will be with you. You will never walk alone. Mary had to walk into an unknown land, an uncharted course. She had to walk in the darkness of faith. She had nothing but that word of the Angel: the Lord is with you.

This “being with his people” is not a mere physical presence, like the way the chair is present in the room. What we are talking about, is a living dynamic presence, that brings about a whole new relationship. The Lord is with us, backing us up, sending us forth into our own personal land of promise, and pledging protection every step of the way.

In the Secret place

2009-01-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

In the course of a talk on the John Main method of meditation, I was asked, “What way does this differ from Rosary meditation?” Is the latter something inferior to this rather special type of meditation with the mantra?

The answer I gave was “It is and it isn’t!” It all depends on where you’re at. If the Rosary is made a kind of uniform,-- same for everyone and every situation, it can become a rigid formula that gives little scope for growth. If on the other hand, the Rosary is seen as a school of prayer, with many grades or stepping stones to wisdom, then there is room for the many splendoured range that moves from vocal prayer, to discursive meditation and on to stillness and silence.

The various mysteries of the Rosary can be pondered in detail,scenes from the Passion and Glory of Jesus can be held in the mind and applied to one’s own life in a very practical manner. The Rosary can be a way of coming to grips with the events of Christ’s life and as a method of proclaiming the Gospel. It is often called “the Gospel on its knees!” But the Rosary does not have to settle down there. As life goes on things can become simpler and one can learn in the best sense of the word to dream along with God. Far from being a mere day-dream this can be an attentive resting in the arms of the beloved.

There is a time for the simple gaze into the heart of the mystery. The vocal prayers slow down to a lingering pace. The rhythm of meditation merges into a stillness where one moves over the stepping stones to enter the secret place of the Beloved.

Change my heart O Lord

2009-01-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

The Holy Spirit is at work in you. He wants to change you, to give you a better life. Love changes everything. Change my heart, O Lord. We live and act with the Heart of Christ. Sir Philip Sydney, thinking of a couple who say: We have given our hearts to each other. Your heart and mine are one. has written:

My true love hath my heart and I have his,
By just exchange one for another given;
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven,
My true love hath my heart and I have his.

We can apply the poem to our new relationship with Jesus, for this is the exchange, the Holy Spirit wishes for each of us in the course of meditation. At the heart of each mystery and each Hail Mary is the heart and the name of Jesus. Christ is not simply an object of external veneration. We take him to ourselves and receive the wondrous exchange of his own heart in return.

Meditation such as we find in the Rosary, does not end in darkness and emptiness. It is a journey towards the hearts of Jesus and Mary. It is not simply a matter of mental prayer, but an exchange of hearts, where we live in the Sacred Heart of the Beloved.

I am think that this is the difference between Eastern meditation which seems to end in the void, and the Christian type of contemplative prayer which enters the void indeed, but somehow goes beyond it. Christian prayer like the Rosary, never forgets that the source and the summit of all yearning is the union of hearts, the mystical marriage of two persons. We are the Bride and all our longing is for union with the Bridegroom. While we may wait with eager and lonely expectation, we never forget that the the Lover is coming to meet us.

“Arise make haste, my love my dove...
Let me see you face and hear your voice.”

This is why I can ask with complete confidence for my personal needs or can intercede with boldness for others. The Bridegroom cannot refuse to listen to my voice or turn away from my face?

For your heritage

2009-01-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

A lady came to our meditation meeting who was totally insecure. Even during the meditation sesssion, she was so ill-at-ease that she could not remain still for the brief time allotted. It seemed that the source of her anxiety was a fear of God. She feared she could not serve him as she ought.

I assured her that she was not just a servant, but a bride. She was to see herself, not as a slave at the feet of her master, but as a spouse in the arms of her beloved. With this in mind, how could she ever feel insecure?

This is the heart of God’s covenant and the ground of our confidence.
The people of Israel continually reminded themselves that the Lord never fails to keep covenant with them.
Psalm 130 runs:

He remembers his covenant forever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he sword to Isaac.

To highlight this Bridgroom/Bridal relationship, the same Psalm speaks of the dowry that is given with the marriage. It is the very Promised Land itself--a land flowing with wine and milk and honey. -- “I am giving you a land, Canaan, your appointed heritage.”

My friend at the meditation group got the idea. She told me that it influenced her whole approach to the Eucharist. Whenever she heard the words of consecration: “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.” she knew that she was truly loved, even to the shedding of blood.” I reminded her how those who made covenant with each other would sometimes make a cut on the wrist and allow their bloods to intermingle and that we Christians are sealed in the Blood of the Lord.

And when she heard what the Psalm has to say about the Promised Land being the marriage dowry given by the Lord, she felt secure. She saw her Holy Communion as the inheritance, that would lead her to complete security and peace. She knew now that she was indeed the Bride of the Lord and that she could live out of his unfailing promise and provision.

At the King’s table--with crippled feet

2009-01-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

Returning to our Eucharistic covenant story: When the final battle had been fought, Saul and Jonathan were dead and David was on the throne. But the new king remembered his covenant with Jonathan and wept over his death. Remembrance and fidelity are integral to the biblical notion of covenant. The covenant extended to the whole family of Saul and Jonathan, as well as to themselves. So David made inquiry: “Is there anyone belonging to Saul's family left, to whom I might show faithful mercy for Jonathan's sake? He is told “There is still one of Jonathan's sons. He is lives in hiding in an old shack in the desert of Lodebar. He has crippled feet as he fell from his nurses arms during the battle”

David sent for him. On entering David's presence, the boy--Meribbal fell at the king's feet, saying, “Here I am at your service.” But David replied “Do not be afraid. I will indeed treat you with faithful love for your father Jonathan's sake. I shall restore all your grandfather Saul's estates to you and you will always eat at my table.” Merribal prostrated himself and said: “Who is your servant, for you to show favour to a dead dog like me?”

The Covenant remembered
King David then said to Ziba an old servant of the late king Saul: “Everything belonging to Saul and his family, I give to the boy. You must work the land for him. You must harvest and produce food for him and his family. But Merribal himself, will always take his own meals at my table.”

The story ends on this touching note: “Merribal lived in Jerusalem, since he always ate at the king's table. He was crippled in both feet.” We too, come like Merribal to have our dignity restored and to find healing. The years that “the locusts have eaten” are restored. The past is forgotten, our sins are blotted out. As we live by the covenant we enjoy the good things of the kingdom. We are invited to eat at the King's table and enjoy the fruits of his merciful love all the days of our life. This are the thoughts should occupy our hearts as we sit at the royal table of Eucharist.

The Covenant heart of the Eucharist

2009-01-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

I want to explore with you the loving mercy of God in the Eucharist. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. How often those solemn Eucharistic words of Consecration are pronounced and we scarcely notice them.

Let me tell you one of the world's most beautiful stories of merciful and steadfast fidelity which illustrates the meaning of Covenant-love -- the love that lights up the Bible, and that lies at the heart of the Eucharist. The story in all its rich detail will enable you to plumb the depth of the words of consecration:

The story is of two young men who were contenders for power and glory. One was Jonathan, the son of King Saul. The other was David, the young man who had slain the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone. Although David had done valiant deeds in defence of the kingdom, Saul treated him badly. Things came to such a pass that David had to fly for his life. Jonathan, the King's son realised that David was not only a good man but that he might very well inherit the throne in due course. Now in anticipation of what disaster might befall either party, they looked to the future by making a pact between themselves.

Covenant and Contract
They made what the Bible calls a covenant. A covenant is a solemn agreement, whereby not only goods are exchanged but there is a commitment of persons to each other. By way of illustration, note the two elements in marriage. It is at once a contract-“This gold and silver, I thee give and with all my worldly goods, I thee endow.” But more than this, is the giving of Bride and the Bridegroom to each other. “With this body, I thee worship…” That is the covenant of marriage which binds husband and wife to each other until death do them part.

The Covenant in Bible terms had two particular qualities: kindly mercy and loyal steadfastness. As in a marriage, the Biblical qualties of mercy ensured a protection between the partners - a protection that would endure.

Cloak and belt and sword
By way of expressing this committment or covenant, Jonathan took off his princely cloak and gave it to David. This symbolised the merciful protection of the king's son. When people would see David so dressed they would respect him. Moreover, Jonathan conferred on his friend his own splendid sword and the belt which would have held his purse and his money. With these David could overcome his enemies and be able to survive the hardship of the ensuing campaign.

Sensing that Saul and himself would be overcome in the ensuing battles and that David would come to power, Jonathan made this plea of mercy to one he now saw as the future king: “If I am still alive, show your servant faithful love and mercy. If I die never withdraw your faithful love from my family. Jonathan then renewed his oath to David's since he loved him like his very soul.
Core values of Covenant
God has entered into a covenant with us, his people. That covenant, has those same core-values: expressed all over the Scriptures as a love that is steadfast, and faithful mercy. Other terms may be used , but they amount to the same thing.

Mercy brings together the two parties to the covenant: The great and good Father, pouring out his merciful love and his poor and lowly people crying out for it. The Father sends his Son among us so that the covenant may be sealed in his precious blood. On the Cross the prince of peace is stripped of his royal robe that we sinners may be clothed in his mercy. In return he takes away the rags and the remnants of our sinful lives. As we abandon our own poor defence, The Spirit gives that shining and splendid sword enabling us to overcome evil and emerge victorious. In the next section, we will see some further consequences of this Eucharistic covenant.