Osama Bin Laden dead - opportunity for reflection

I was glad to find the following statement from the Vatican News Service:

"Osama Bin Laden, as is known, claimed responsibility for grave acts that spread division and hate among the peoples, manipulating religion to that end. A Christian never takes pleasure from the fact of a man's death, but sees it as an opportunity to reflect on each person's responsibility, before God and humanity, and to hope and commit oneself to seeing that no event become another occasion to disseminate hate but rather to foster peace".

This occurred as we in this part of the world were concluding the feast of Divine Mercy.

The Laity sometimes know more than theologians says Pope Benedict

Particularly during my time at St Simon's South Ashford, I learnt to learn from the faith of the Faithful.

They taught me love for the Divine Mercy which led me to facilitate their requests for the weekly public celebration of the Chaplet with a period of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and to lead it myself. This enriched greatly my own spiritual life.

The commitment of some parishioners to a Legion of Mary prayer group and their perseverance in meeting in spite of the apparent lack of fruit was a time of rich sowing. Now they have started visiting families to say the Rosary, and the families have themselves asked to meet with other families in the church for Rosary. Last Monday, the evening before my departure, I was overjoyed to see a lovely group of families and young children who had gathered at church for this. This led all the more to the sadness I felt on leaving. But on the other hand I rejoiced to see this wonderful example of the lay apostolate.

It was also from lay people that I acquired a love for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass which I now celebrate as occasion provides.

These are just a few examples.

Pope Benedict spoke today about how Blessed Duns Scotus found the way to overcome the objections that theologians had to the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption, even though the faithful had no problem accepting this teaching.

Zenit today informs us:

Regarding Scotus' pivotal role in understanding the Immaculate Conception, the Pope said this: "In Duns Scotus' times, the majority of theologians offered an objection that seemed insurmountable to the doctrine that Most Holy Mary was free from original sin from the first instant of her conception. In fact, the universality of the redemption wrought by Christ, at first glance, might seem compromised by such an affirmation, as if Mary had no need of Christ and of his redemption. Because of this theologians were opposed to this thesis."

The Pontiff recounted how Scotus developed an argument that Pope Pius IX would go on to use in 1854 when he solemnly defined the dogma.

"And this argument," Benedict XVI said, "is that of the 'preventive redemption,' according to which the Immaculate Conception represents the masterpiece of the redemption wrought by Christ, because in fact the power of his love and of his mediation obtained that the Mother be preserved from original sin. Hence Mary is totally redeemed by Christ, but already before her conception."

The Holy Father said that:

"faith in the Immaculate Conception or in the bodily assumption of the Virgin was already present in the People of God, while theology had not yet found the key to interpret it in the totality of the doctrine of the faith. Thus the People of God precede theologians and all this thanks to that supernatural 'sensus fidei,' namely, that capacity infused by the Holy Spirit, which qualifies us to embrace the reality of the faith, with humility of heart and mind.

"In this sense, the People of God is 'magisterium that precedes,' and that later must be deepened and intellectually accepted by theology."

He expressed his hope that theologians will always be able to

"listen to this source of faith and have the humility and simplicity of little ones!"

I'm sure there will some smart-aleck who will extend this interpretation to posit a church that only proclaims doctrines/teachings that are accepted by the laity. So they will say that since Humanae Vitae has not been accepted by a large majority of Catholics, Pope Paul's teaching cannot be considered dogmatic. Or they will refer to Newman's teaching on conscience and twist it to putting the authority of conscience above that of the authentic magisterium of the Church. But any faithful Catholic will know that this is not what the Pope means. For another characteristic that marks out the "little ones" of the lay faithful is their instinctive trust and confidence in and faithfullness to the teachings of the Pope.

Krakow

Having left South Ashford at 5.30am by minibus, we arrived at the Divine Mercy Shrine at Łagewniki in Krakow on time, as planned for lunch, after which we met with Sister Gaudia - as the name implies, a very joyful and youthful sister - who is, of course, Polish, but speaks excellent slightly Americanised English.

She explained something of the significance of the message of Mercy that was entrusted to Saint Faustina, Jesus' Secretary of Divine Mercy. She particularly explained about the 3 o'clock prayer, and wanted it to be known that Our Lord did not ask that any particular prayer be said at 3 o'clock but that rather we pause at that time - for a few seconds, a few minutes, longer if possible - to meditate on the suffering and death of Jesus. Of course, one can say a prayer, the so-called '3 o'clock prayer', for instance, or even the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, but there is no intrinsic link between these prayers and keeping the hour of Our Lord's death.

Sister Gaudia also spoke about the humility of Saint Faustina, and how she is another example of how the Lord chooses the lowly of this world to be entrusted with something great. St Faustina's diaries are at once simple and profound. Simple souls say how easy it is to understand because of its simplicity, wise souls say how profound the diary is. Here we are by the wall just outside the convent chapel where the Chaplet is written in various languages:

I remarked to Sister Gaudia how much we need sisters like her and her order in England, dressed like sisters. She replied with some enthusiasm: "Yes, you do, you do!" Wouldn't it be wonderful if these sisters were established in the UK.

Just outside the convent chapel can be seen the window of the cell where St Faustina died, decorated with flowers:

Following her brief talk with us, we went to the Convent Chapel where the relics of St Faustina are preserved and joined in the 3 o'clock prayers which consisted of a meditation and some prayers in Polish (which naturally we did not understand) followed by the recitation of the Chaplet, one decade of which was done in English for our benefit.

After venerating the relic of St Faustina, we went to the Chapel of St Faustina beneath the basilica for Mass. Today is, of course, the feast of the Visitation, a very appropriate feast for considering lowly and humble creatures chosen by God for great things.

This afternoon I took the opportunity to meditate on some of St Faustina's Notebook VI from her diary, and it truly is profound. Here is what I just happened to read as I sat in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament:

My heart is drawn there where my God is hidden,
Where He dwells with us day and night,
Clothed in the White Host;
He governs the whole world. He communes with souls.

My heart is drawn there where my God is hiding,
Where His love is immolated.
But my heart senses that the living water is here:
It is my living God, through a veil hides Him.

St Faustina is surely speaking of her own mystical experience of ecstasy when she writes:

During meditation, the Lord gave me knowledge of the joy of heaven and of the saints on our arrival there; they love God as the sole object of their love, but they also have a tender and heartfelt love for us. It is from the face of God that this joy flows out upon all, because we see Him face to face. His face is so sweet that the soul falls anew into ecstasy.

On February 13th 1938, she

saw how unwillingly the Lord Jesus came to certain souls in Holy Communion. And He spoke these words to me: I enter into certain hearts as into a second Passion.

Later this afternoon I took a walk round the grounds and visited the Convent cemetery. Here Sr Faustina was buried until her remains were removed to the Convent Chapel.

There appears now to be a large vault where the sisters are buried, with a wall on which the names of those interred are recorded. It must be wonderful to be able to contemplate daily the place where you will be laid to rest.

In the evening there is a beautifully prayerful atmosphere in the convent chapel, which is really the heart of the shrine (I'm afraid I don't much care for the modernist architecture of the basilica). There are evening prayers with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (followed by distribution of Holy Communion which, I must say, I found a bit odd but which I also observed in my visit to Czestochowa earlier this year), Rosary for needy families, night prayers, etc. It is heart-warming to see so many sisters, including numerous novices, and ordinary lay people - many children too, gathered together for these times of prayer, with of course beautiful devout singing.

Bloggers lunch

I was very grateful to the Hermeneutic of Continuity to be treated to lunch today. Thanks to the wonderful High Speed Train between Ashford International and St Pancras International in London, I was at our Green Park location just one hour after leaving Ashford International. London is really so much closer now.

Afterwards, I visited a few religous book shops to see if I could obtain a large picture of the Divine Mercy for the church and found a very reasonably priced print at St Paul's by Westminster Cathedral. All I need now is a frame - which will cost quite a bit more if it's going to be decent, and I do want it to be nice.

I wonder if you are as amused as I was by the following grouping together of books:

 

After the shops, a visit to Westminster Cathedral. I routinely genuflected and took my place in the Blessed Sacrament only then to notice that the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on a throne above the tabernacle, so I did my afternoon meditation before returning to St Pancras. (I only had my mobile phone with me so you probably can't see the monstrance in the following photo - you can see the shadow, however.)

The atmosphere in Westminster Cathedral is always very prayerful. It's a wonderful gift for Catholics to have such a church in the centre of London.