Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog

New, updated editions of classic works by mystic Adrienne von Speyr now available

 San Francisco, May 3, 2017 – Ignatius Press has long published the writings of Adrienne von Speyr, a contemporary Swiss convert, mystic, wife, medical doctor, and prolific spiritual writer, who was under the spiritual direction of renowned theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. Now three books have been released as new editions, each updated with a new Foreword, bringing renewed attention to her insightful life and work.
 
First Glance at Adrienne von Speyr
 
This second edition of Hans Urs von Balthasar’s book on Adrienne von Speyr is his personal introduction to the mystic, First Glance at Adrienne von Speyr, whose message and mission he believed to be vitally important for the Church. Von Balthasar was the spiritual director of von Speyr for almost thirty years as she progressed in the life of grace. She helped him to found the Community of Saint John, an international secular institute, and she wrote more than sixty books on various topics, including prayer, Scripture, sacraments, and saints, which continue to bear fruit for those seeking to deepen their understanding of Catholic spirituality and theology.
 
This book contains three main sections. The first includes a short account of Adrienne’s life, which describes her childhood, conversion, and mission; an analysis of her most important theological concerns; and an overview of her published and unpublished works.  The second is a collection of enlightening statements that Adrienne made about herself, which illuminate both her exterior and interior life. The third section contains prayers that she herself wrote, which best reveal her spirit.
 
Hans Urs von Balthasar writes, “On the whole I received far more from Adrienne, theologically, than she from me. As her confessor and spiritual director, I observed her interior life most closely, yet in twenty-seven years I never had the least doubt about the authentic mission that was hers. Her work appears far more important to me than mine. I am convinced that when her works are made available, those who are in a position to judge will concur with me about their value and will thank God that he has granted such graces to the Church in our time.”

Adrian Walker, Ph.D., Professor of Theology at the John Paul II Institute and author of the Foreword of this new edition, says, “Von Speyr was one of the great Catholic converts of the twentieth century. Her great passion was what might be called ‘the thirst for catholicity’ — the unreserved, joyful adherence to all the teachings of the Church and the attitude of total surrender to the Truth.”
 
“The abundant harvest of graces hidden in this theological mission for our times still waits to be more fully carried into the storehouses of the Church for whom Adrienne von Speyr was sent. Now, however, a century after her birth, there are many signs to indicate that the moment of her ‘reawakening’ is at hand!” says Jacques Servais, S.J., Director of the Casa Balthasar in Rome.
 
Confession
 
In this second edition of her profound book on confession, which Hans Urs von Balthasar calls “one of her most central works”, Adrienne von Speyr discusses the moral and practical aspects of this sacrament in great depth. The most complete spiritual treatise on confession ever written, the book covers conversion, scruples, contrition, spiritual direction, laxity, frequency of confession, confessions of religious and lay people, and even confessions of saints.
 
The most intriguing element in von Speyr’s understanding of confession, fully developed in this volume, is its trinitarian and christological basis. The Cross is the archetypal confession, and Christian sacramental confession is thus an imitation of Christ in the strict sense. Confession examines the enormous fruitfulness of this dogmatic basis from many perspectives, giving a wealth of suggestions that both the theological expert and the layman will find very helpful. Its practical applicability to one’s own confession emerges from every page.
 
Fr. John Riccardo, the author of the Foreword, writes, “Few writers have impacted me like von Speyr has. I use Confession every year in RCIA to teach on this great gift that Jesus left to the Church on the day He rose from the dead. Whether you are a frequent celebrant of this Sacrament or, like I once was, have been away for many years, I pray that this book will profoundly change your life.”
 
Handmaid of the Lord
 
In this profound book on the mystery of Mary, Adrienne von Speyr reflects on the life, attitude, and prayer of the Mother of God. She shows how Mary’s assent to God’s will—her Fiat: “Let it be done to me according to thy word” — is what defines and sanctifies every aspect of her life. She gives new insights into Mary’s holiness, suffering, prayer, and role of spiritual motherhood for all mankind.
 
Handmaid of the Lord is not a biography detailing the daily life of the Mother of Jesus, filled with the sights and the sounds found in the holy imagination of a saintly visionary. Rather, it responds to our desire to know Mary in a penetrating and personal way, opening us to the mystery of her inner life, which can be revealed only by the Word himself and pondered in the heart, just as Our Lady herself did.
 
Humility, obedience, availability, joy, suffering, and transparency before God are some of the key spiritual attributes of Our Lady found in this timeless work. As with her other books, von Speyr helps us to savor and to appreciate each word of Sacred Scripture as self-revelation from the Father through the heart of the Church, the Bride of the Son, in a loving exchange of the Spirit. In this way, the Word may be absorbed into the very core of our being, as it was for Mary, the Mother of God.
 
Kris McGregor, founder of Discerning Hearts, writes in the Foreword, “This work offers a doorway into the heart of one of Christianity’s greatest mysteries - the mystery of Mary - and there is no better spiritual guide through that door than Adrienne von Speyr. She is a grand spiritual master of the practice of Lectio Divina and a beneficiary of its fruits. Handmaid of the Lord is Lectio Divina par excellence. It reveals the sheer beauty of Marian contemplation like no masterpiece of temporal art or music ever could; hence its status as a spiritual classic.”
 
About Adrienne von Speyr
 
Adrienne von Speyr (1902–1967) was a Swiss medical doctor, a convert to Catholicism, a mystic, and an author of more than sixty books on spirituality and theology. She collaborated closely with theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, her confessor for twenty-seven years, and together they founded  the Community of Saint John. Her numerous books, published by Ignatius Press, are a major contribution to the wisdom of the Church. Among her most important works are Book of All Saints, Confession, The World of Prayer, Handmaid of the Lord, and The Passion from Within.
 
Kris McGregor, the author of the Foreword of Handmaid of the Lord, is available for interviews about these three books. To request review copies or an interview with Kris McGregor, please contact: Rose Trabbic, Publicist, Ignatius Press at (239) 867-4180 or rose@ignatius.com
 
Kris McGregor is the Founder/Executive Director of Discerning Hearts, a non-profit broadcast media apostolate dedicated to evangelization and spiritual formation. She has produced/hosted a wide range of series programs under the banner “Discerning Hearts presents”, as well as hosted “Inside the Pages”, interviewing hundreds of today’s leading Catholic authors and spiritual leaders. Her programs are prominently featured on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network line-up and on DiscerningHearts.com. In the past, she has served as a Director of Religious Education, Director of Liturgy, and Director of Pastoral Ministry in parishes located in the Archdiocese of Omaha.  Kris and her husband of 34 years, Bruce, are Benedictine Oblates and parents of 3 children.  
 
Product Facts:
                                                                                        
Title: First Glance at Adrienne von Speyr
Author: Hans Urs von Balthasar
Release Date: May 2017                                                                
Length: 228 Pages
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-162164-180-3
                                               
Title: Confession
Author: Adrienne von Speyr
Release Date: May 2017                                                                 
Length: 295 Pages
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-62164-182-7
                       
Title: Handmaid of the Lord
Author: Adrienne von Speyr
Release Date: May 2017      
Length: 203 Pages
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-1-62164-181-0
 
To Order: 1-800-651-1531 or www.ignatius.com

New: "Fatima Mysteries: Mary's Message to the Modern Age" by Grzegorz Gorny and Janusz Rosikon

Now available from Ignatius Press:

Fatima Mysteries: Mary's Message to the Modern Age

by Grzegorz Gorny and Janusz Rosikon

400 pages | Hardcover

"The tragedies foretold in Fatima did not come to an end with the demise of Communism. The crisis has not been resolved. From a certain point of view it is still as serious as it ever was, as it is primarily a crisis of faith, hence a moral and social crisis."
— Pope Benedict XVI

The apparitions in 1917 of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal, are perhaps the most important private revelations in the history of the Church. At the height of World War I and on the eve of the Russian Revolution, Our Lady appeared in Fatima to warn us of another even greater world war, the spread of Communism, and a terrible persecution of the Church unless people returned to God. She asked for us to offer daily prayer and sacrifice for conversion of the world and salvation of souls.

Because of the prophetic nature of Our Lady's messages and their potential significance for the entire world, they have been the subject of much study and controversy, and they have influenced the decisions not only of many individuals, but also of Popes, Bishops, and heads of state.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of these important apparitions and messages for the modern world, renowned author-photographer team Grzegorz Górny and Janusz Rosikon traveled throughout Europe to tell the story of Fatima and its impact on the destiny of both individuals and nations. With stunningly beautiful four-color photographs on every page, and in-depth detail and insights on all aspects of the story and message of Fatima, they probe the mysteries of Fatima and their continued relevance for our modern age. Lavishly Illustrated.

Grzegorz Górny is a reporter, essayist, and film and television producer. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the quarterly Fronda, and from 1994 to 2001 he co-authored a program under the same title that aired on the Polish national television. He has produced various documentary television series and authored numerous articles for European publications. His books include Battle for Madrid (2010).

Janusz Rosikon is a photographer and a member of the Association of Polish Artistic Photographers. His photographs have been featured in Time, Newsweek, and Reader's Digest.

"This is a very special book on the whole story, messages and meaning of Fatima. It is a great treasury of information and inspiration for the 100th anniversary of Fatima, filled with stunning photos and images. This book will help you to do what Pope Benedict XVI asked of us all - to learn, live and spread the message of Fatima!"
- Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., Author, Fatima For Today

"What a masterpiece! Fatima Mysteries is the most comprehensive and thoroughly researched book I have ever read on the Fatima apparitions. It offers an historical, cultural, and theological presentation of everything there is to know about the importance of one of the greatest events in modern times."
- Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, Author, Champions of the Rosary: The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon

New: "Marian Veneration: Firm Foundations" by Francis Cardinal Arinze

Now available from Ignatius Press:

Marian Veneration: Firm Foundations

by Francis Cardinal Arinze

The Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated by many followers of Jesus Christ as an important part of their practice of the faith. Believing that she is the Mother of God because her Son is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who for our salvation took on human nature, Christians of both East and West honor Mary in various ways. They strive to imitate her as a great model of Christian discipleship.

Cardinal Arinze wrote this book for both those devoted to the Blessed Mother and those who do not yet know or understand her. Based on the Scriptures, the teachings of the Church, and the sacred liturgy, the cardinal provides a solid foundation for Marian veneration—one that can benefit all Christians, regardless of their church affiliation.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, the former Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship, is a highly regarded prelate, teacher and churchman. He has written numerous books on theology, spirituality and prayer, including Meeting Jesus and Following Him, Radical Discipleship, The Layperson's Distinctive Role, and his biography, God's Invisible Hand, all published by Ignatius Press.

"An extraordinary blend of rigorous scholarship and filial devotion, Marian Veneration gives all the reasons for why the Virgin Mary is – and will always be – at the heart of Christianity.  This book will serve as a reference work for generations to come!"
— Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, Author, Champions of the Rosary: The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon

"To praise the art is to praise the artist. Mary is the greatest work of art ever created by God. Cardinal Arinze helps us to see the pierced Hand of the Master holding the brush that created Mary, his greatest Icon of the Church."
— Mark P. Shea, Author, Mary, Mother of the Son

"The Second Vatican Council urged theologians and preachers to present the authentic image of the Virgin as it is given us in the Scriptures, the sacred liturgy, and the holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church. That is precisely what he does in this excellent work."
— Fr. Michael Gaitley, M.I.C., Author, 33 Days to Morning Glory

"Simply the best book of its kind in print today. Cardinal Arinze not only masterfully provides the essential foundation for the veneration of Mary but also dispenses with manifold errors concerning Marian theology and devotion both inside and outside the Church."
— Tim Staples, Director of Apologetics and Evangelization, Catholic Answers

"The Blessed Virgin in the History of Christianity" by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

The Blessed Virgin in the History of Christianity | John A. Hardon, S.J.

Christianity would be meaningless without the Blessed Virgin. Her quiet presence opened Christian history at the Incarnation and will continue to pervade the Church's history until the end of time.

Our purpose in this meditation is to glance over the past two thousand years to answer one question: What are the highlights of our Marian faith as found in the Bible and the teaching of the Catholic Church?

New Testament

The first three evangelists were mainly concerned with tracing Christ's ancestry as Son of Man and, therefore, as Son of Mary. St. Matthew, writing for the Jews, stressed Christ's descent from Abraham. St. Luke, disciple of St. Paul, traced Christ's origin to Adam, the father of the human race. Yet both writers were at pains to point out that Mary's Son fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah. He was to be born of a virgin to become Emmanuel, which means "God with us." Luke gave a long account of the angel's visit to Mary to announce that the Child would be holy and would be called the "Son of God" (Luke 1:36).

St. John followed the same pattern. He introduced Mary as the Mother of Jesus when He began His public ministry. In answer to her wishes, Christ performed the miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee. What happened then has continued ever since. Most of the miraculous shrines of Christianity have been dedicated to Our Lady.

It is also St. John who tells us that Mary stood under the Cross of Calvary as her Son was dying for our salvation. Speaking of John, Jesus told His Mother, "This is your son." To John, He said of Mary, "This is your Mother." The apostle John represented all of us. On Good Friday, therefore, Christ made His Mother the supernatural Mother of the human race and made us her spiritual children.

Mother of God

In the early fifth century, a controversy arose in Asia Minor, where the Bishop of Constantinople claimed that Mary was only the Mother of Christ (Greek=Christotokos). He was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, which declared that "the holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Greek=Theotokos).

St. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, was mainly responsible for this solemn definition of Mary's divine maternity. It was St. Cyril who thus composed the most famous Marian hymn of antiquity. It is a praise of Our Lady as Mediatrix with God:

Through you, the Trinity is glorified.
Through you, the Cross is venerated throughout the world.
Through you, angels and archangels rejoice.
Through you, the demons are driven away.
Through you, the fallen creature is raised to heaven.
Through you, the churches are founded in the whole world.
Through you, people are led to conversion.

Every other title of Mary and all the Marian devotion of the faithful are finally based on the Blessed Virgin's primary claim to our extraordinary love. She is the Mother of God. She gave her Son all that every human mother gives the child she conceives and gives birth to. She gave Him His human body. Without her, there would have been no Incarnation, no Redemption, no Eucharist; in a word, no Christianity.

Mary's Virginity

Logically related to her divine maternity is Our Lady's perpetual virginity. From the earliest days the Church has taught that Mary was a virgin before giving birth to Jesus, in giving His birth, and after His birth in Bethlehem.

The Assumption" by Monsignor Ronald Knox

The Assumption | Mgr. Ronald Knox | From Pastoral and Occasional Sermons | August 15th | Ignatius Insight

A cave Jeremias found there, in which he set down tabernacle and ark and incense-altar, and stopped up the entrance behind him. There were some that followed; no time they lost in coming up to mark the spot, but find it they could not.—2 Machabees 2:5-6.

After this, God's heavenly temple was thrown open, and the ark of the covenant was plain to view, standing in his temple.—Apocalypse 11:19.

The Son of God came to earth to turn our hearts away from earth, Godwards. The material world in which we live was, by his way of it, something immaterial; it didn't matter. We were not to be always worrying about our clothes being shabby, or wondering where our next meal was to come from; the God who fed the sparrows and clothed the lilies would see to all that. We were not to resent the injuries done to us by our neighbours; the aggressor was welcome to have a slap at the other cheek, and when he took away our greatcoat he was to find that we had left our coat inside it. Life itself, the life we know, was a thing of little value; it was a cheap bargain, if we lost life here to attaIn the life hereafter. There was a supernatural world, interpenetrating, at a higher level, the world of our experience; it has its own laws, the only rule we were to live by, its own prizes, which alone were worth the winning. All that he tried to teach us; and we, intent on our own petty squabbles, our sordid struggle for existence, cold-shouldered him at first, and then silenced his protest with a cross.

His answer was to rise from the dead; and then, for forty days in the world's history, that supernatural life which he had preached to us flourished and functioned under the conditions of earth. A privileged few saw, with mortal eyes, the comings and goings of immortality, touched with their hands the impalpable. For forty days; then, as if earth were too frail a vessel to contain the mystery, the tension was suddenly relaxed. He vanished behind a cloud; the door of the supernatural shut behind him, and we were left to the contemplation of this material world, drab and barren as ever.

What was the first thing the apostles saw when they returned from the mount of the Ascension to the upper room? "Together with Mary"—is it only an accident that the Mother of God is mentioned just here, by name, and nowhere else outside the gospels? The Incarnate Word had left us, as silently as he came to us, leaving no trace behind him of his passage through time. No trace? At least, in the person of his blessed Mother, he had bequeathed to us a keepsake, a memory. She was bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, the new Eve of the new Adam. That body of hers, still part of the material order of things, had housed and suckled God. As long as she lived, there would still be a link, a golden link, between this lower earth and Paradise. As long as she lived; and even if it was God's will that she, Eve's daughter, should undergo the death that was Eve's penalty, the penalty she had never incurred, her mortal remains would still be left with us, an echo from the past, an influence on our lives. We men, since we are body and soul, do honour even to the lifeless bodies which have housed the dead; Napoleon rests in the Invalides, Lenin at Moscow. The day would come when there would be pilgrimages from all over the world to the shrines of Peter and Paul at Rome, of James at Compostela. Was it not reasonable to hope that somewhere, at Jerusalem, perhaps, or at Ephesus, we should be privileged to venerate the mortal remains of her through whom salvation came to us? Or perhaps at Bethlehem, Bethlehem-Ephrata, this new Ark of God would rest, as the ark rested of old; "And now, at Ephrata, we have heard tidings of what we looked for" [1] —the old tag from the Psalms should still ring true.

God disposed otherwise. Jewish tradition recorded that when Jerusalem was destroyed by the armies of Babylon, the prophet Jeremias took the ark of God away from the city, and buried it in some secret cleft of the rock; it was never seen again. Never again, except by St John, in his vision on the isle of Patmos; he saw the ark of God, but in heaven. And so it was with this new Ark of God, the virgin body that had been his resting-place. When and where she passed away from this earth, or in what manner, nobody can tell us for certain. But we know where she is. When Elias was carried up into heaven, the sons of the prophets at Jericho asked Eliseus if they might go out in search of him; "it may be", they said, "the spirit of the Lord has carried him off and left him on some hill-top or in some cleft of the valleys." He consented grudgingly, and when they returned from their fruitless errand, greeted them with the words; "Did I not tell you not to send?" [2] So it is with the body of the blessed Virgin: nowhere in Christendom will you hear the rumour of it. So many churches, all over the world, eagerly claiming to possess the relics of this or that saint; who shall tell us whether John the Baptist sleeps at Amiens, or at Rome? But never of our Lady; and if any of us still hoped to find that inestimable treasure, the Holy Father has called off the search, only the other day. We know where her body is; it is in heaven.

Of course, we knew it all along. For myself, I have never doubted the doctrine of the Assumption since I heard it preached forty-four years ago, in an Anglican church over at Plymouth. You see, we get it all wrong about body and soul, simply because our minds are dominated by matter. We think it the most natural thing in the world that soul and body should be separated after death; that the body should remain on earth and the soul go to heaven, once it is purged and assoiled. But it isn't a natural thing at all; soul and body were made for one another, and the temporary divorce between them is something out of the way, something extraordinary, occasioned by the Fall. In our blessed Lady, not born under the star of that defeat, human nature was perfectly integrated; body and soul belonged to one another, as one day, please God, yours and mine will.

Long ago, in those fields of Bethlehem, Ruth had gleaned in the footsteps of her beloved; and he, secretly, had given charge to the reapers to drop handfuls of corn on purpose, so that she might fill her bosom the sooner. So he, whose reapers are the angels, would leave for his blessed Mother a special portion of those graces that were to enrich mankind. The child-bearing which brought, to us others, redemption from the fault of our first parents should bring, to her, exemption; the empty tomb, which assures us that our bodies will rise at the judgment, was for her the earnest of an immediate resurrection; Christ the first-fruits, and who should glean them, but she? For that, heaven is the richer, earth the poorer. We can go to Lourdes, and offer adoration in the place where her feet stood; we cannot press with our lips some precious reliquary containing the hand that swaddled Christ. In a world so dominated by matter, in which matter itself seems to carry the seeds of its own destruction, there is no material object left that can link our destinies with hers.

And yet, is the loss all loss? When the dogma of the Assumption was defined a friend of mine, a very intelligent Mohammedan, congratulated me on the gesture which the Holy Father had made; a gesture (said he) against materialism. And I think he was right. When our Lord took his blessed Mother, soul and body, into heaven, he did honour to the poor clay of which our human bodies are fashioned. It was the first step towards reconciling all things in heaven and earth to his eternal Father, towards making all things new. "The whole of nature", St Paul tells us, "groans in a common travail all the while. And not only do we see that, but we ourselves do the same; we ourselves although we have already begun to reap our spiritual harvest, groan in our hearts, waiting for that adoption which is the ransoming of our bodies from their slavery." [3] That transformation of our material bodies to which we look forward one day has been accomplished—we know it now for certain-in her.

When the Son of God came to earth, he came to turn our hearts away from earth, Godwards. And as the traveller, shading his eyes while he contemplates some long vista of scenery, searches about for a human figure that will give him the scale of those distant surroundings, so we, with dazzled eyes looking Godwards, identify and welcome one purely human figure close to his throne. One ship has rounded the headland, one destiny is achieved, one human perfection exists. And as we watch it, we see God clearer, see God greater, through this masterpiece of his dealings with mankind.

(A sermon broadcast from Buckfast Abbey, Devon, on the Feast of Our Lady Assumption, 15 August 1954.)

ENDNOTES:

[1] Psalm 131:6.
[2] 4 Kings 2:16, 18.
[3] Romans 8:22-3.

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Related IgnatiusInsight.com Links:

• IgnatiusInsight.com Author Page for Monsignor Ronald Knox
• The Modern Distaste for Religion | Ronald Knox
• The Mind of Knox | David Rooney
• The School of Ronald Knox | An Interview with David Rooney
• The Monsignor and the Don | An Interview with Fr. Milton Walsh
• Monsignor Ronald Knox: Convert, Priest, Apologist | An Interview with Fr. Milton Walsh
• Experience, Reason, and Authority in the Apologetics of Ronald Knox | Milton Walsh | From Ronald Knox As Apologist
• The Four Marks of the Church | Ronald A. Knox
• Review of The Belief of Catholics | Carl E. Olson
• Ronald Knox, Apologist | Carl E. Olson
• A Lesson Learned From Monsignor Ronald A. Knox | Carl E. Olson
• Converts and Saints | An Interview with Joseph Pearce

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Monsignor Ronald Knox (1888-1957) was the son of the Anglican Bishop of Manchester and it appeared that he, being both spiritually perceptive and intellectually gifted, would also have a successful life as an Anglican prelate. But while in school in the early 1900s Knox began a long struggle between his love for the Church of England and his growing attraction to the Catholic Church. He converted to Catholicism at the age of twenty-nine, became a priest, and wrote numerous books on spiritual and literary topics, including The Belief of Catholics, Captive Flames: On Selected Saints and Christian Heroes, The Hidden Stream: The Mysteries of the Christian Faith, Pastoral and Occasional Sermons, and many more. Visit Knox's IgnatiusInsight.com author page for more information about his life and work.

The Joys and Challenges of Filming the Story of Salvation History

The Joys and Challenges of Filming the Story of Salvation History | CWR Staff

Steve Ray, who has been working for 16 years on the ambitious "Footprints of God" series, discusses his vision, describes the difficulties, and asks for assistance as the project nears the finish line.

Author and apologist Stephen Ray (CatholicConvert.com) along with his wife Janet, entered the Catholic Church in 1994, a journey from the Baptist tradition to Catholicism described in Ray's first book, Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church. Since then he has kept busy with giving numerous talks, leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Rome, and other locations, and writing more books, including Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church, and St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary. 

Steve and Janet have also kept busy working on writing, filming, editing, and producing the award-winning video series for Ignatius Press titled ”The Footprints of God”. The Rays and their crew have completed eight of the ten films and are busy making preparations for the final two films, including raising money to help with the costs of filming on location in countries including Israel, Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. 

Catholic World Report recently caught up with Steve shortly before he and Janet left the country to lead a pilgrimage in Rome and Assisi. 

CWR: You’ve been working on the “Footprints of God” film project for 16 years. Where did the idea come from and how did you get started on such an ambitious project?

Steve Ray: It started in the middle of the night around 2 a.m. Without any forethought I woke up with a start. I sat up in the pitch dark and grabbed my wife and began to shake her, "Janet, Janet! Wake up, we have to make a ten-part video series on the history of salvation from a Catholic perspective!" I had woken her up so abruptly she she was shaking from fright. When she finally realized what I was saying she responded, “What? Are you crazy? I thought the house was on fire or you were having a heart attack. You woke me up in the middle of the night and scared me half to death to tell us we have to make movie? We can't even take good pictures—how does God expect us to make movies? You're crazy, go back to sleep."

She rolled over and went back to sleep but I was wide awake—and I was on fire. For the rest of the night I was at my computer with fingers flying, getting it all down out of my head before it disappeared. The ideas flowed like a waterfall and by the time the sun came up I had the whole outline of the series figured out, along with the title. It was going to be called The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation from Abraham to Augustine. It would consist of ten parts and each one would explain how God has come to his people to offer redemption and salvation—to the point that he even got his own feet dirty doing it!

CWR: How did Ignatius Press get involved in the project?

Steve Ray: We called Ignatius Press to tell them our idea. They invited my wife and I out to San Francisco for lunch and a meeting. I presented my idea. By the end of the lunch we had their approval and the funding for the first movie Peter, Keeper of the Keys. Within six weeks we were flying over the land of the Bible in helicopters getting the aerial footage, and six weeks later we were filming Peter in Israel and Rome. We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the unflagging support and funding from Fr. Joseph Fessio, Mark Brumley, and Tony Ryan of Ignatius Press.

These movies couldn’t be like anything else out there. We wanted them to be unique and one of kind—and they are! 

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Fatima at 100: The message of Our Lady for today

Fatima at 100: The message of Our Lady for today | Jim Graves | Catholic World Report

An interview with Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., author of "Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope"

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the beginning of the Fatima apparitions. In spring 1916, the Angel of Peace appeared to three small children—Lucia Dos Santos, nine, and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, ages eight and six—for first of three times that year in preparation for six apparitions of the Blessed Mother in 1917, beginning on May 13 of that year. Francisco and Jacinta died shortly after and have since been declared Blessed; Sr. Lucia died at age 97 in 2005.

Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R., is one of the world’s leading experts on Fatima. He has spoken and written extensively, and in 2010 his book Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope was published by Ignatius Press.

Father was ordained a priest by Bishop Fulton Sheen in 1967. In 1987, he joined with Fr. Benedict Groeschel and six other Capuchin friars to found the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. The two great focuses of his life, he said, are to see Bishop Sheen canonized (he serves as vice postulator for the cause) and to promote the message of Fatima. He recently spoke with CWR.

CWR: Why are the Fatima apparitions of such great interest to you personally?

Fr. Apostoli: When I was young, I heard a lot of talk about the requests Our Lady made at Fatima. I remember the release of the 1952 movie The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, which made a great impression on me. I grew up praying the family rosary, as Fr. Patrick Peyton advised. He was the one who said “The family that prays together stays together.” And, I think it was while saying those rosaries that there was a stirring in my heart to become a priest.

So, as I looked into the message of Our Lady of Fatima, I began to think it must be important if Our Lady wanted it. Over the years my interest has grown immensely, especially considering the sad state of our world today. It was Pope St. John Paul who said that the Church was facing her greatest spiritual struggle in her history, and most Catholics are not even aware that there is a struggle going on. There is an evil out there that desires the total destruction of Christian civilization; that’s why the message of Fatima is so important.

Also, I’m very devoted to Bishop Fulton Sheen. He was a great opponent of communism, and took great note of what Our Lady of Fatima said about the spread of communism. [“Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated.”]

CWR: What are your thoughts as we approach the 100^th anniversary of Fatima?

Fr. Apostoli: I do quite a bit of preaching on Fatima. I want people to know about it, and to understand the urgency of it. The Judeo-Christian beliefs on which our country was founded are being undermined. Doing what Mary has asked of us is the only thing that can reverse the decline in our civilization. She’s saying, “I’m the only one who can help you.”

While we may not be threatened by Soviet communism as we once were, we’re threatened by a new kind of communism, atheistic secularism.

CWR: Do you believe that the message of Fatima is widely known today?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Cana, Signs, and Sacraments

"Marriage at Cana" [c. 1304] by Giotto di Bondone (WikiArt.org)

Cana, Signs, and Sacraments | Carl E. Olson | On the Readings for Sunday, January 17, 2016

Readings:
• Is 62:1-5
• Ps 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
• 1 Cor 12:4-11
• Jn 2:1-11

The Gospel of John contains some seventeen direct references to signs (semeia), which is St. John’s term for the miraculous deeds of Jesus. St. John is especially interested in how these various signs are manifestations of God’s new and transforming intervention in human history through the Word, the Logos. His Gospel is a profound reflection on the fact and mystery that God became man and dwelt among us, “full of grace and truth” (see Jn 1:1-14).  

Chapters 2 through 12 of John’s Gospel are sometimes called collectively “The Book of Signs,” for they contain seven signs, or miracles, performed by Christ. These signs include the healing of the official’s son (Jn 4), the healing of the paralytic (Jn 5), the multiplication of the loaves (Jn 6), walking on water (Jn 6), the restoration of the blind man (Jn 9), and the raising of Lazarus (Jn 11).

The first sign, however, is the miracle at the wedding at Cana, proclaimed in today’s Gospel, which is found only in the Fourth Gospel. The exact location of Cana is unclear, but it was probably just a few miles north of Nazareth. The identity of the bride and groom are unknown, although a later tradition from about the third century states that Mary was the aunt of the bridegroom.

What is known, for it forms the crux of the story, is that something embarrassing had taken place: the wedding party ran out of wine. Mary, ever attentive to the needs of others, intercedes on behalf of the bride and groom, telling her son, “They have no wine.” She prays—that is, entreats—in faith, for the needs of those gathered for the feast. This foreshadows her prayers, as “Mother of all the living” and Mother of the Church, at the foot of the Cross, the saving way to the marriage feast of the Lamb (cf.Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2618, 1335, 963).

Jesus’ response is puzzling, perhaps even perplexing: “Woman, how does your concern affect me?” But the term “Woman” is not an insult, as some have argued incorrectly; it is actually a formal title of respect (cf. Matt 15:28). What is unusual is how Jesus, in speaking to his mother, uses the term without any qualifier. It indicates a changed relationship between son and mother (cf. Jn 19:26). Further, in using it, Jesus identifies Mary as the new Eve, whose obedience and faith will be an essential part of the new creation and a new family, the Church.

Jesus stated that his hour—the time of his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension (Jn 13:1)—had not yet arrived. Mary does not question him, or protest. Her words to the servers are words of invitation to all of us: “Do whatever he tells you.” She trusts her son, knowing he will do what is right and necessary. “The Mother of Christ presents herself as the spokeswoman of her Son's will,” observed Blessed John Paul II in Redemptoris Mater, “pointing out those things which must be done so that the salvific power of the Messiah may be manifested. At Cana, thanks to the intercession of Mary and the obedience of the servants, Jesus begins ‘his hour.’” (par 21).

The Church sees the miracle at Cana as a “confirmation of the goodness of marriage” (CCC 1613). But there is also a connection to baptism, for the jars used in the miracle were for ceremonial washings, for ritual purification from defilement. In the waters of baptism, we are cleansed by God’s grace and transformed by his power. Through baptism we become members of the Church, the bride of Christ, and are invited to partake of the blood of the bridegroom (CCC 1335).

“Now we all partake at the banquet in the church,” wrote the sixth-century saint, Romanus Melodus, “For Christ’s blood is changed into wine/And we drink it with holy joy/Praising the great bridegroom.”

First water, then wine; first baptism, then Eucharist. By these sacraments, perceptible signs, we are changed, cleansed, fed—and wed.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the January 17, 2010, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Mary, Mother of Us All in the New Year

Pope Francis visits the Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square after vespers New Year's Eve in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 31. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Mary, Mother of Us All in the New Year | Dr. Randall B. Smith | CWR

When Mary said her “yes,” it changed everything. This should give us hope in the coming year that if we too say “yes" then this too can make all the difference in the world—the real world that God knows and loves

The Church recently celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God — a wonderful way to begin the New Year. Some might be inclined to fault the Church for placing this solemnity on New Year’s Day when the holy day of obligation is likely to be viewed with some displeasure by those who have been up late enjoying the festivities of the previous night. I disagree—this is the perfect day for such a feast.

Although the origins of the celebration of Mary Mother of God on the first day of the year can be traced back to the Council of Ephesus in 431, it was only relatively recently, in 1974, that Pope Paul VI placed it back on the calendar of the universal Church. Although the universal Church has not always celebrated the Solemnity of Mary on the first day of the year, great preachers throughout history have often taken the occasion of New Year’s Day to challenge the faithful to gain a deeper appreciation of the things that are truly important in life.

Celebrating the spiritual feast
St. John Chrysostom, to take but one example, a man so eloquent it earned him the sobriquet “Chrysostom,” Greek for “golden-mouthed,” chose to begin the New Year in 388 or 389 A.D., with an eloquent series of homilies on the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. As in our own day, when there is much drinking and drunkenness associated with the celebration of the New Year, so too in the ancient world, the first day of January would have marked the end of their biggest festival, the Saturnalia, the most popular holiday of the Roman year. The poet Catullus described it as “the best of days,” while the Stoic philosopher Seneca complained that the “whole mob has let itself go in pleasures.” The sober, careerist magistrate Pliny the Younger tells us he would simply retreat to his room while the rest of the household celebrated.

As in the modern world, there were church services on the 1^st of the month to — how shall we put it? — attempt to dissuade Christians from partaking in too much revelry of the sort so many others seemed to have given themselves over to. Thus St. John began his homily by rallying his flock:

Yesterday, on the festival of Satan, you celebrated a spiritual feast, receiving with all favor the word we addressed to you; spending a great portion of the day in thus drinking in that rapture which is full of sobriety, and rejoicing in company with St Paul. In this way you gained a twofold benefit, since you were both separate from the disorderly throng of feasters, and rejoiced in a spiritual and decorous manner. You also partook of that cup, not overflowing with unmixed wine, but filled with spiritual instruction. While others were following the festive companies of the evil one, you, by your presence in this place, prepared yourselves as instruments of spiritual music, and surrendered your souls to the Divine Spirit that He might influence them, and breathe His own grace into your hearts. Thus you gave forth a melody of perfect harmony, pleasing not only to men but also to the heavenly powers. Let us, therefore, today, take up arms against inebriety, and expose the folly of a drunken and dissolute life.

When Chrysostom called it “the festival of Satan,” he was using that term somewhat metaphorically. Strictly speaking it was the festival of Saturn, so he was likely making a subtle play on words. And yet, on the day of “Saturn,” to what extent were people in town not acting as though they were celebrating “Satan”? His point was that while everyone else was out partying, his congregation was in church at Mass, so they celebrated, not a physical feast, but a “spiritual feast.” Instead of getting drunk, they—“full of sobriety”—drunk-in not wine, but the wisdom of the Scriptures. Instead of getting drunk on “unmixed wine” (wine unmixed with water, to cut its potency), they were drinking from another cup: the Word of God in the Scriptures and present in the Eucharist.

While others were out playing loud music in the public square (undoubtedly disturbing more contemplative souls like Seneca and Pliny), Chrysostom’s congregants were making themselves “instruments of spiritual music.” While others were out “tooting their own horns” (so to speak), Chrysostom’s congregants were perfecting themselves as an instrument, so that the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, might blow through them beautifully with his own sacred music. When men are inspired by this Spirit, they do not make a disorderly and riotous mob, in which all the minds of the individuals are given over to the crowd; rather they become a “symphony” of different voices, all working together in “perfect harmony,” pleasing to both God and man.

This context is not unimportant for appreciating the rest of the homily.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

The Virgin Mary bore the King and the Kingdom, the Messiah and the Church

"Nativity" (c. 1311) by Giotto di Bondone [WikiArt.org]

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for December 20, 2015, the Fourth Sunday of Advent | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Mi 5:1-4a
• Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
• Heb 10:5-10
• Lk 1:39-45

St. Augustine, in his treatise, “On Holy Virginity,” made this profound, even startling, statement: “Thus also her nearness as a Mother would have been of no profit to Mary, had she not borne Christ in her heart after a more blessed manner than in her flesh.”

In that single line, the great Doctor anticipated the objections voiced by many Protestants while also explaining the honor and love shown by Catholics (and Eastern Orthodox) for the Theotokos, the Mother of God. I heard and repeated, while growing up in a Protestant home of Fundamentalist persuasion, many of those objections: “Mary was just an ordinary woman,” “Mary was not sinless,” and, of course, “Catholics worship Mary!” People would sometimes go to extremes to avoid any appearance of praise for Mary. A close relative once told me that Mary had merely been a “biological vessel” for the baby Jesus!

Two things changed my mind: reading actual Catholic teaching about Mary and re-reading Scripture. The first came from a sense of fairness toward what I didn’t know; the second came from a growing (and hardly characteristic) humility about what I thought I knew. Sure, I had read the opening chapters of the Gospel of Luke many times. But I must have read it dozens of times before I began to slowly comprehend the astonishment of the Annunciation, the wonder of Elizabeth’s ecstatic greeting, the magnitude of the Magnificat.

Today’s Gospel reading follows the Annunciation and immediately precedes the Canticle of Mary. The young Mary, told by Gabriel that she had found favor with God and would bear a son, eventually sets out to see Elizabeth, also pregnant with a son. Having already been confirmed by a heavenly messenger of God, Mary was then confirmed by her own flesh and blood in words heard and repeated by countless faithful through the centuries: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

To be blessed is to have found favor with God, to be filled with the grace—the supernatural life—of God. It is to possess the kingdom by belonging to the King (cf. Matt 5:3, 10). As mother of the King of kings, Mary bore the kingdom within her. As mother of the Messiah, she is also the mother of the Church. Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris Mater (1987), wrote that “in her new motherhood in the Spirit, Mary embraces each and every one in the Church, and embraces each and every one through the Church” (par. 47).

Mary and Elizabeth, bearing their sons—one a prophet, the other the Son of God—prefigure the Church that would later be born from the side of the crucified Lord and made manifest on Pentecost (see CCC 766, 1076). Blessed by the Father, impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit, and filled with the Son, the Virgin brings joy and gladness into the dark, silent womb of man’s deepest longing.

Like St. Augustine, John Paul II provided a profound reflection on the belief and faith of Mary. In the expression “Blessed are you who believed,” he wrote, “we can therefore rightly find a kind of ‘key’ which unlocks for us the innermost reality of Mary, whom the angel hailed as ‘full of grace.’ If as ‘full of grace’ she has been eternally present in the mystery of Christ, through faith she became a sharer in that mystery in every extension of her earthly journey” (par. 19). The miracle of Mary’s pregnancy and Virgin birth go hand in hand with the mystery of faith.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Christ child while recognizing that Christ always remains in the heart of Mary. Having given birth to the Savior at one particular moment in time, Mary has continued to give the Savior to the world ever since. It is her one desire, her unending gift of joy and life to each of us. “And how does this happen to me,” we ask ourselves, “that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the December 20, 2009, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

"The Assumption" by Monsignor Ronald Knox

The Assumption | Mgr. Ronald Knox | From Pastoral and Occasional Sermons | August 15th | Ignatius Insight 

A cave Jeremias found there, in which he set down tabernacle and ark and incense-altar, and stopped up the entrance behind him. There were some that followed; no time they lost in coming up to mark the spot, but find it they could not.—2 Machabees 2:5-6.

After this, God's heavenly temple was thrown open, and the ark of the covenant was plain to view, standing in his temple.—Apocalypse 11:19.

The Son of God came to earth to turn our hearts away from earth, Godwards. The material world in which we live was, by his way of it, something immaterial; it didn't matter. We were not to be always worrying about our clothes being shabby, or wondering where our next meal was to come from; the God who fed the sparrows and clothed the lilies would see to all that. We were not to resent the injuries done to us by our neighbours; the aggressor was welcome to have a slap at the other cheek, and when he took away our greatcoat he was to find that we had left our coat inside it. Life itself, the life we know, was a thing of little value; it was a cheap bargain, if we lost life here to attaIn the life hereafter. There was a supernatural world, interpenetrating, at a higher level, the world of our experience; it has its own laws, the only rule we were to live by, its own prizes, which alone were worth the winning. All that he tried to teach us; and we, intent on our own petty squabbles, our sordid struggle for existence, cold-shouldered him at first, and then silenced his protest with a cross.

His answer was to rise from the dead; and then, for forty days in the world's history, that supernatural life which he had preached to us flourished and functioned under the conditions of earth. A privileged few saw, with mortal eyes, the comings and goings of immortality, touched with their hands the impalpable. For forty days; then, as if earth were too frail a vessel to contain the mystery, the tension was suddenly relaxed. He vanished behind a cloud; the door of the supernatural shut behind him, and we were left to the contemplation of this material world, drab and barren as ever.

What was the first thing the apostles saw when they returned from the mount of the Ascension to the upper room? "Together with Mary"—is it only an accident that the Mother of God is mentioned just here, by name, and nowhere else outside the gospels? The Incarnate Word had left us, as silently as he came to us, leaving no trace behind him of his passage through time. No trace? At least, in the person of his blessed Mother, he had bequeathed to us a keepsake, a memory. She was bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, the new Eve of the new Adam. That body of hers, still part of the material order of things, had housed and suckled God. As long as she lived, there would still be a link, a golden link, between this lower earth and Paradise. As long as she lived; and even if it was God's will that she, Eve's daughter, should undergo the death that was Eve's penalty, the penalty she had never incurred, her mortal remains would still be left with us, an echo from the past, an influence on our lives.

Fairest Daughter of the Father: On the Solemnity of the Assumption

Fairest Daughter of the Father: On the Solemnity of the Assumption | Rev. Charles M. Mangan 

The Solemnity of the Assumption, celebrated annually on August 15, presents a golden opportunity to reconsider the person of the Ever-Virgin Mary and her singular mission in the Church. We often contemplate the relationship between Mary and her Son; this reflection will focus on the relationship which Our Lady enjoys with the First Person of the Most Blessed Trinity. 

Mary has been hailed as the "first-born" daughter of the Father. This reality is evident if one remembers that God--and in a specific way the Father--has created Mary, just as He has created us. She is "one of us" because she is fully human. We are children of the Almighty in a similar vein in which she is His daughter. As we rely on God for our very existence, so, too, does our Immaculate Mother. 

What do the Father and His sinless daughter share? Venerable Pius IX (1846-1878), in his Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus (December 8, 1854) in which he once-and-for-all defined the truth of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, wrote: "To her did the Father will to give His only-begotten Son--the Son Whom, equal to the Father and begotten by Him, the Father loves from His Heart--and to give this Son in such a way that He would be the one and the same common Son of God the Father and of the Blessed Virgin Mary." 

The Father gave many overwhelming spiritual riches to Mary to strengthen her in her inspiring vocation as the Mother of His Son. Yet, He gave no greater gift than that of the Lord Jesus. Mary, in turn, imitated the Father in raising Jesus from before infancy to manhood. Jesus knew well the best of all gifts which His Mother faithfully imparted: the boundless love of His Beloved Father. Now, as the Son of Mary, Christ came to experience the love of His Mother which was patterned after that of His Father. 

One may rightly assert that Jesus Christ is the link between the Father and Mary. We often claim that children receive much of their identity from their parents. Eye color, physical build and even disposition are often traced from the child back to its parents. Truly, the offspring rely on their father and mother for multiple and varied things. (And, of course, the Messiah willed to come forth from Mary and be dependent on her and Saint Joseph.) However, the Holy Family of Nazareth is a different case. Mary and her loving husband discovered their purpose in the Divine Child. In Jesus, they found their identity--unto everlasting life!

August 9, 1945: Our Lady of Sorrows, Takashi Nagai and "A Song for Nagasaki"

Left: Atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, taken by Charles Levy; right: Urakami Cathedral sometime after the bombing (Wikipedia)

August 9, 1945: Our Lady of Sorrows, Takashi Nagai and A Song for Nagasaki | K.V. Turley | Catholic World Report

The bombing of Nagasaki, viewed through the lens of eternity, became a mystical foreshadowing of the Apocalypse and, therefore, paradoxically, a preamble to the coming of the Lamb

It is often the case that global events are best understood when viewed through the prism of the individual lives caught up in them. With the coming of the 70^th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, the life of Takashi Nagai, as told in Fr. Paul Glynn’s A Song for Nagasaki (Ignatius Press, 2009), does just that, with the events of August 9, 1945—their repercussions, consequences, and even their spiritual meaning—explored in a way that few would have imagined or even dared do. 

Fr. Glynn is an exceptional writer. He takes the reader—the Western reader, that is—into a world hidden from many of us, namely Japanese society. His book, or rather the subject of his book, is on one level unremarkable. A young man grows up in a traditional bourgeois Japanese home. He is educated and cultured. In due course, he becomes a doctor. Then something quite remarkable commences. There is an inexplicable attraction to Christianity, and it grows. Eventually, the young doctor lodges with a Catholic family in Nagasaki. This city is to be a place of transformation, and in more ways than Nagai could have ever imagined.

A Catholic family in Nagasaki was not such a novelty at the time. Catholicism had been brought there by Jesuits in the sixteenth century and had survived, albeit for many centuries underground, through years of suffering, persecutions, torture, martyrdom even—but survive it did. By the 1930s, the city had a Catholic cathedral, with indigenous priests watching over a devout and active community of believers. It was into this world that Nagai entered.

The picture painted of this young man is far from flattering. He was typical of young men of his generation and background. Thus it is all the more interesting to read of his encounter with a very different culture within his native land, a culture that could be summed up as both attracting and baffling him in equal measure. At the center of this attraction was not simply an ‘ideal’, such as Shinto or Buddhism could have supplied; instead, he was propelled forward by observing the lives and goodness of those around him living what many Japanese considered a foreign religion.

In this encounter his life was changed completely. First, in a very human way, through human love. The woman who became his wife, Midori, was an exceptional person. She was his Catholic landlord’s daughter, and was charming and tender-hearted, beautiful and refined—attributes many of her countrywoman also shared. But she had a quality different from most. This other ‘quality’, however, is something only glimpsed by ‘eyes that can see’. It was piety, certainly, but it was more than that; it was holiness. Unknowingly, Nagai was being drawn to this as much as to any of her other qualities. Theirs was not to be simply a union of bodies and minds, or even wills; it was instead two souls that found each other, and then walked a spiritual path together, one that for all eternity had been mapped out for just these two. In short, it is what constitutes a Christian marriage.

The book, like the life of its subject, is shaped around the events of August 9, 1945.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

"Benedicta": Chant to Make the Heart Glad

(Photo Credit: Christopher McLallen)

Benedicta: Chant to Make the Heart Glad | Christopher S. Morrissey | CWR

Benedicta, the debut Gregorian chant CD from the Benedictine Monks of Norcia, takes the form of a concept album about the life of Mary. And it is a perfect soundtrack to prepare you for the practice of prayer.

In the midst of the day’s work, a little break is always welcome. Sometimes this takes the form of a clever YouTube diversion recommended by a friend. For example, a recent favorite of mine was a highly intelligent Latin rendition of “Let It Go” from Disney’s hit movie Frozen: “Libere.”

It got me thinking. What if a hit musical was first composed in Latin, and then only later translated into various national languages? Well, I can only wish. Having taught Latin at the university level for a decade and a half, I know how small the interest and appetite would be for such a thing.

Besides, the movie musical is a quintessentially American art form, and so it is only appropriate for the songs from Frozen to appear first in English. Nowadays, Latin translations of any pop culture phenomenon — take Harrius Potter, for example — are merely the final seal of approval bestowed by unassailable mass appeal.

But what if we could have access to a genuine cultural sensation that was in fact native to the Latin tongue? What kind of experience would that be?

Last week, the Benedictine Monks of Norcia released Benedicta, their first recording of Gregorian chant. As I have been listening to it, I can’t help but take it as the answer to those very questions.

Just as movie musicals are best experienced in the language of their birth (pace clever translators), so too are the liturgical meditations on Scripture best experienced in the Latin tongue that has sung those daily prayers for centuries.

Eighteen men strong, the Benedictine Monks behind this album have set up a monastery at Norcia, the fifth-century birthplace of St. Benedict, ancient Nursia. Impressively, the average age of these men is 33. Many of them have come from America to Norcia, where they live according to the perennially wise monastic Rule of St. Benedict.

Recently, they learned the art of brewing from some Trappist monks. And so their monastery has become famous for its delicious Birra Nursia, which is not yet available in North America, but which is nonetheless worth the trip to Umbria, Italy. The beer has a Latin motto: Ut Laetificet Cor, “To Make the Heart Glad,” which is a clever allusion to the approbation of wine in Psalm 104:15.

Scriptural allusions — made in Latin, no less — are hardly the stuff of today’s pop culture. And yet what would be more appropriate for Catholic religious who brew beer? “A cold beer never bothered me, anyway”; that may be the right sentiment, but surely Ut Laetificet Cor is the motto that is right and just.

In the same way, there is a tradition of prayer full of Latin allusions that stretches across centuries. And these monks are part of that still-living tradition. They spend hours every day chanting the Divine Office in a prayerful and meditative spirit. Just as they share the fruits of their labor with us in their beer-making, so too do they now give us, with this recording, a taste of their prayer life.

I must admit I was skeptical when I was presented with yet another Gregorian chant CD to review.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Dante, the World’s Second Greatest Poet

Dante and Beatrice, by Carl Friederich Oesterley (19th c.).

Dante, the World’s Second Greatest Poet | Fr. David Vincent Meconi, SJ |  Homiletic & Pastoral Review

Sometime this month back in 1265, exactly 750 years ago, the World’s Second Greatest Poet was born in Florence, Dante Alighieri. Not many realize that Popes Benedict XV and Paul VI issued official Vatican statements lauding Dante for the unmatchable beauty of his poetry, his Divine Comedy above all. This is a “comedy” because, beginning in tragedy, it ends victorious (versus a “tragedy,” like Oedipus Rex, which begins in triumph and ends in catastrophe).  But what makes Dante so great and so appreciated almost a millennium later?

Dante wrote in a very pivotal time for the history of Europe and the history of the Church. His much-loved metropolis of Florence was divided over the amount of control the Papal States should have over Tuscany. Dante began as a soldier and was successively made a member of all the right guilds, a city councilman, and eventually a member of the Council of the Hundred (which was responsible for the city’s highest financial and civic decisions), as well as a Florentine ambassador to other major Italian-speaking cities. Dante never wavered from his disdain over the machinating and malicious Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303). In fact, Boniface is immortalized in the eighth circle of Dante’s hell among the simoniacs and other ecclesiastics who used their sacred office to attain personal gain.

Yet, what is deeper in Dante than his political intrigue is his unique theological appreciation for the role Christians have in uniting others to Christ. While Dante is an orthodox Catholic thinker on every level, he exhibits a rare and unguarded insight that the divine comes to humans not only through others but even as other humans.

Continue reading at www.HPRweb.com.

The Mystery of the Annunciation is the Mystery of Grace

The Mystery of the Annunciation is the Mystery of Grace | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) | Ignatius Insight

The mystery of the annunciation to Mary is not just a mystery of silence.It is above and beyond all that a mystery of grace.

We feel compelled to ask ourselves: Why did Christ really want to be born of a virgin? It was certainly possible for him to have been born of a normal marriage. That would not have affected his divine Sonship, which was not dependent on his virgin birth and could equally well have been combined with another kind of birth. There is no question here of a downgrading of marriage or of the marriage relationship; nor is it a question of better safeguarding the divine Sonship. Why then?

We find the answer when we open the Old Testament and see that the mystery of Mary is prepared for at every important stage in salvation history. It begins with Sarah, the mother of Isaac, who had been barren, but when she was well on in years and had lost the power of giving life, became, by the power of God, the mother of Isaac and so of the chosen people.

The process continues with Anna, the mother of Samuel, who was likewise barren, but eventually gave birth; with the mother of Samson, or again with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer. The meaning of all these events is the same: that salvation comes, not from human beings and their powers, but solely from God—from an act of his grace.

The Importance of Knowing St. Joseph

The Importance of Knowing St. Joseph | Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. | The Introduction to The Mystery of Joseph by Marie-Dominique Philippe, O.P. | Ignatius Insight 

The publication of this serious, even profound study of a person intimately joined to the life of the Messiah and written by one of the most respected figures in our contemporary Catholic scene should cause serious attention to be paid to the often neglected figure of Saint Joseph. 

Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, O.P., an important French theologian who died only in 2006, was a man whose thought was of great influence and depth. He was also a man greatly devoted to the Church who founded the Community of Saint John. This new community is now recognized in several countries as a very successful attempt to restore a vibrant spirituality to the religious life, which in many places has seemed moribund for years. 

The Brothers and Sisters of Saint John are a cause of hope to those who look ahead to the restoration of the authentic and powerful traditions of the religious life that have gotten lost in recent times. The Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal have welcomed them with joy. 

Father Philippe's book on Saint Joseph is very consistent with the new biblical theology called for by Pope Benedict XVI. The author very impressively examines the sparse facts that we have concerning the life of Saint Joseph, teasing from them material that connects easily and well with a very impressive structure of theological teaching. This then becomes a means of providing a firm foundation for devotion to the Foster Father and Guardian of the Son of God.

Except for Christ and Saint Paul, New Testament figures attract little attention from the secular world and especially the secular media – even when they are in a kindly mood. Occasionally a small amount of attention is shown to the figure of the Blessed Mother but rarely is Saint Joseph or any of the Apostles mentioned. Even in cities named Saint Joseph or San José are the inhabitants really conscious of the fact that their hometown is actually named for a person – a person who played a role of immense importance in God's plan of redemption for humankind. This apparent obscurity finds at its root a kind of Protestantism that is focused intensely on the figure Christ and on the writings of Saint Paul, but which seems barely acquainted with Saint Joseph and even the Mother of God, herself. 

Catholic theology, which takes a less constricted view of such things, opened up a world of devotion to Saint Joseph the humble carpenter of Nazareth as well as to the Mother of God. How could it be otherwise? These are the figures who stood at the manger on the first Christmas; they are the ones to whom the care of the Word Incarnate was entrusted by God.

Mary, true Seat of Wisdom and true Mother of the King, presents the Redeemer of all peoples

"St. Juvenal Triptych" (1422) by Masaccio [WikiArt.org]

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, January 4, 2015, The Epiphany of the Lord | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Isa 60:1-6
• Psa 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
• Eph 3:2-3A, 5-6
• Mt 2:1-12

Pope Paul VI, in the Apostolic Exhortation, “Marialis Cultus” (Feb. 1974), emphasized that the “Christmas season is a prolonged commemoration of the divine, virginal and salvific motherhood of her whose ‘inviolate virginity brought the Saviour into the world.’” This is so much the case, he wrote, that “on the Solemnity of the Birth of Christ the Church both adores the Savior and venerates His glorious Mother.”

He then stated the following about today’s great feast: “On the Epiphany, when she celebrates the universal call to salvation, the Church contemplates the Blessed Virgin, the true Seat of Wisdom and true Mother of the King, who presents to the Wise Men, for their adoration, the Redeemer of all peoples (cf. Mt. 2:11).”

Mary’s presentation of her Son to the wise men was another demonstration of her mysterious and maternal role in salvation history. It was mysterious—not magical—because Mary, sinless from conception by the power of the Holy Spirit, conceived the sinless Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Her faith is that of a disciple—but not just any disciple, for she is the first and perfect disciple of her Lord.

Her role, then, is truly maternal, for she is both mother of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, but also mother of the Church, the mystical body of Christ. Mary, although not divine by nature, is at the heart of the culmination of divine revelation: the coming of God in the flesh.

And so the Solemnity of the Epiphany is a celebration of the epiphaneia—that revelation and manifestation—of God become man, Jesus the Christ. The feast, going back to the early centuries of the Church, has focused on three key events, related to one another by virtue of being revelatory in nature: the visitation of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, and the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana.

Each manifests the astounding, transforming truth of the Incarnation. Each, in turn, opens up further the mystery of God and calls us to worship and adore the Messiah.

Consider that Mary and Joseph did not have to receive the magi. We also recognize that Mary did not have to accept God’s invitation to be the mother of the Savior, nor did Joseph, the foster father of Christ, have to obey the directives given to him by angels. Mary and Joseph were not stock characters or tools used by an impersonal force, but real people who accepted the call and the word of God with free will and full faith. Then, in turn, they opened up their hearts and home to those seeking the Word who is the way, the truth, and the life.

The magi represent those who earnestly desire the fullness of truth and who yearn to see the face of God. I am struck again by how Matthew’s account presents, so simply but powerfully, the four actions or responses of the magi. First, they were filled with joy upon recognizing the star and being brought to the home of the Christ child. Secondly, they entered into His home and into communion with Him and His Mother. Third, they worshipped Him. And, finally, they offered Him the finest gifts they possessed.

The readings from the prophet Isaiah and from Saint Paul to the Ephesians draw out this fact about the magi: they were not Jews. The Kingdom of God is offered to and includes peoples from all nations; it is not for a people united by ethnicity or geography, but by grace and the fullness of revelation. Thus, the magi represent the first of a vast number of Gentiles brought into the family of God through the Christ-child, who is the King of the Jews and the King of kings.

And Mary, the true Seat of Wisdom and true Mother of the King, continues to open the doors to her Son so we can see him, know him, and worship him.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the January 8, 2012, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

The Blessed Virgin in the History of Christianity

The Blessed Virgin in the History of Christianity | John A. Hardon, S.J. 

Christianity would be meaningless without the Blessed Virgin. Her quiet presence opened Christian history at the Incarnation and will continue to pervade the Church's history until the end of time.

Our purpose in this meditation is to glance over the past two thousand years to answer one question: What are the highlights of our Marian faith as found in the Bible and the teaching of the Catholic Church?

New Testament

The first three evangelists were mainly concerned with tracing Christ's ancestry as Son of Man and, therefore, as Son of Mary. St. Matthew, writing for the Jews, stressed Christ's descent from Abraham. St. Luke, disciple of St. Paul, traced Christ's origin to Adam, the father of the human race. Yet both writers were at pains to point out that Mary's Son fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah. He was to be born of a virgin to become Emmanuel, which means "God with us." Luke gave a long account of the angel's visit to Mary to announce that the Child would be holy and would be called the "Son of God" (Luke 1:36).

St. John followed the same pattern. He introduced Mary as the Mother of Jesus when He began His public ministry. In answer to her wishes, Christ performed the miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee. What happened then has continued ever since. Most of the miraculous shrines of Christianity have been dedicated to Our Lady.

It is also St. John who tells us that Mary stood under the Cross of Calvary as her Son was dying for our salvation. Speaking of John, Jesus told His Mother, "This is your son." To John, He said of Mary, "This is your Mother." The apostle John represented all of us. On Good Friday, therefore, Christ made His Mother the supernatural Mother of the human race and made us her spiritual children.

Mother of God

In the early fifth century, a controversy arose in Asia Minor, where the Bishop of Constantinople claimed that Mary was only the Mother of Christ (Greek=Christotokos). He was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, which declared that "the holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Greek=Theotokos).

The Holy Family points the human family to the Heavenly Family

"Rest on the Flight into Egypt" (1597) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, December 28, 2014 | Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 or Gen 15:1-6; 21:1-3
• Psa 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 or Psa 105:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
• Col 3:12-21 or Heb 11:8, 11-12, 17-19
• Lk 2:22-40

The family today, in so many ways, is under scrutiny and even under attack. Some of the questions are about the very nature of this most ancient and central institution: What is a “family”? What is necessary for a family to exist? For what purpose do families exist?

On December 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI gave a Christmas address to the Roman Curia which focused on the family. He noted that “there is no denying the crisis that threatens it to its foundations – especially in the western world.” The family is important, he explained, because within the family exists “the authentic setting in which to hand on the blueprint of human existence. This is something we learn by living it with others and suffering it with others.”

He then said something that is worth pondering on this Feast of the Holy Family: “So it became clear that the question of the family is not just about a particular social construct, but about man himself – about what he is and what it takes to be authentically human.”

Put another way, the reality of the family is rooted in the truth of man: he is created by God so he can have eternal and life-giving communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The very first sentence of the Catechism makes this clear: “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.”

And how is God going about the business of saving us? “He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church.” This is why the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, became man. This is why the Holy Spirit, through the sacraments, makes us God's “adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life” (CCC, 1).

God became a man and a member of a specific family so that all men and women might be able to become members of the supernaturally-constituted family of God, the Church. This means that each Christian family is a reflection of an eternal mystery, for it is “a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (CCC, 2205).

This is heady stuff, no doubt. Which is one reason the reality of the Holy Family is so important, for it reveals how true theology is lived out in true charity, in the daily work and rhythm of family life. Thus, the exhortation from Sirach: “Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and preserves himself from them.” And similar words of wisdom from the Apostle Paul: “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Wives are to acknowledge the proper leadership of their husbands; husbands are to truly love their wives; children are to be obedient and respectful.

This is not about simply following “the rules,” but about giving oneself to others in selfless love, for it was the overflow of God's selfless love that brought about creation. This means recognizing the dignity and worth of others, while also recognizing our proper relationship with one another.

Benedict noted that today there is a serious crisis when it comes to “the human capacity to make a commitment,” the sort of commitments essential to true family life. The Son committed himself to the work of the Father and was born of Mary the Virgin. Mary committed herself to the word of God, trusting completely in the divine plan. Joseph committed himself to Mary and Jesus, obeying God despite the efforts it required.

And Jesus, on the Cross, cried out, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46). Christ was willing to die for a lost family, bringing into being a new family, in which we can become authentically human.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the December 29, 2013, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)