FATHER NICOLAS BUTTET (CATHOLIC), FOUNDER OF THE EUCHERISTEIN FRATERNITY AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR OF ARCHBISHOP JUSTIN WELBY OF CANTERBURY (ANGLICAN)

 Father Nicolas Buttet is a Swiss priest and religious who left a life of practising law and politics to pursue the life of a hermit and then to found the Eucharistein Fraternity. His community, inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi, is devoted to simplicity and total reliance on God.

He was born in Valais in Switzerland in 1961 and was brought up with an allergy towards Catholicism and especially the Pope.   At 23 he was the youngest deputy in the Valais cantonal parliament.  A year or so later he received a nasty shock when his girlfriend told him that she thought she was pregnant.   It turned out not to be the case; but he realised that he was living very superficially.  He went to confession and his conversion followed.  He took a private vow of celibacy but continued his work as a lawyer.  In 1986, he was surprised by the invitation from the Vatican to go and work for the Church.  He went to Rome in 1989 and worked there until 1991 when he became a hermit in his native Switzerland.   Gradually, a group of young people collected round him.  When they asked him to found a religious community, he refused because he did not want to leave his hermitage; but the local bishop insisted. He bacame the founder of the Eucharistein Fraternity.  He later also founded an anthropological institute with the object of humanising the tendency to globalisation.   For those who speak French, there are a few videos which will allow you to listen to him.

God's ways are not man's ways, and, without wishing to, he has become one of the many links between Catholicism and Anglicanism, because he is the spiritual director of Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. Thanks to Father Nicolas, the Archbishop has come to share his Franciscan spirituality, joined to the rigorous self-examination that is characteristic of the spirituality of St Ignatius Loyola.   

This has meant that there never has been an Archbishop of Canterbury so in tune with a pope since the Reformation as Justin Welby and Pope Francis.  It is not a superficial likeness, but is found at the very root of the soul of each of them, in the most intimate relation of each of them with God.  And this is reflected in the various parallel ways their pastoral strategies are developing.   For instance, there is a difference between the moral outlook in Europe and America and that of Africa.  Both insist that each side has its say, and both hope, I think, that there will be an agreement to differ in pastoral practice, once general principles agreed by all have been drawn up.  Of course, the basic problem is fundamentally different in Catholicism and Anglicanism.  The latter has to discover and express its true identity, what binds it together; while Catholicism has to get used to diversity within an identity that is very clear.

It could be said, that Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby come for different ends of the Christian spectrum.  Pope Francis, without any doubt, is a Catholic who is a "son of the Church" and accepts all that the Catholic Church teaches ex animo. Archbishop Welby's background is a classically Evangelical one, a wing of the Church of England that does not normally consider itself very close to Catholicism.  Indeed, in South America where I live, Evangelicals try to convert Catholics in order to make them Christians.  Justin Welby has no doubt that he is a Protestant who prays in tongues, whose religion is a Bible religion; but, thanks to P.Nicolas, he adores Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, goes to confession, and has been on pilgrimage to the Anglican shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.  Both Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby break the mould that the past wishes to impose on them.

  Thus, Pope Francis seeks out a relationship with all others who have this relationship with Christ, even the most extreme Protestants: extreme Protestants are better than the wishy-washy middle ground where faith is reduced to mere opinion, and Christian life is reduced to "live and let live".   In seeking out and recognising what is authentic Christianity, the Pope knows he has an ally in Archbishop Justin Welby.

One of the things that binds the two together is the Charismatic Renewal.  The Anglican Church used to say that it is a bridge church between Catholicism and Protestantism.  I believe they were mistaken.  The only bridge between Christians is the Holy Spirit, and we should leave it to him, without trying to take over his function, but we must be ready to to open ourselves to what he is doing and to accept this.  Without any doubt, especially in Hispanic America, the Charismatic Renewal is playing a major role in the renewal of the Church.  For that reason, Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby use the same language and the same priorities.

One way to be an obstacle to the work of the Holy Spirit is to judge others.   Once we begin to judge others, we become unable to discover what God is doing in their lives.  The more we judge, the less we can discover.  When Catholics judge Anglicans or Anglicans judge Catholics, or when both dismiss Orthodoxy or Orthodoxy rejects both, we are disobeying the teaching of Christ on judging others; and, at the same time, we become blind to what God is doing in the other and diminish our grasp on our own Christianity: sin does that.  We leave the company of the Good Shepherd who has left the company of the sheep to look for those who are lost or merely bewildered.  We stay back in the fold, safe and sound, but ignorant of the wonders that Christ is doing outside.

We know that, in the life of Grace, God is acting, and that there is much about Grace before which we can only bow down and adore in ignorance. We are less able to interpret the mind of God than a gnat is capable of interpreting the mind of man.   However, there is much that we can discover, if we only keep our minds reverently open and expectant.  With God, there are so many options open to him, and the one we least expect may well be the one he chooses.  Once we close our minds in judgement, it means we have stopped looking.   Who would have thought that a French Swiss hermit who may not even speak English - I don't know - could play any role at all in the reconciliation between Catholicism and Anglicanism.

In my next post, entitled "Some Thoughts on Anglicanism", we shall go a little deeper into the role Anglicanism is playing and will play in the future in the work of evangelisation.   Personally, I do not believe that, short of a miracle, that Anglicanism and Catholicism shall unite; but miracles happen,; and, even if it never happens on this side of the grave, we may well become more and more united in prayer and activity.

The Hour of the Eucharist

Part 1

Interview With Speaker at International Congress

By Gisèle Plantec

QUEBEC CITY, 17 JUNE 2008 (ZENIT)

It is the hour of the Eucharist, but three things are needed for Catholics to go deeper in the Eucharistic mystery, said the founder of a fraternity dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament.

Father Nicolas Buttet is the founder of the Eucharistein Fraternity, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi in its devotion to evangelical simplicity and total reliance on God. The community’s life is centered on Christ in the Eucharist, celebrated in the sacrifice of the Mass and worshipped in the Blessed Sacrament.

The priest spoke today at the International Eucharistic Congress, under way in Quebec through Sunday.

He also spoke with ZENIT about what the congress means for Canada, and what is needed for Catholics to grow in their love for Christ present in the Eucharist.

Q: The Church in Canada expects much from this Eucharistic Congress. Do you believe it can renew the Church? Specifically, what can change?

Father Buttet: When I arrived at the Montreal airport, a young employee assigned to baggage control asked me about my clothes — I wear a brown tunic and a cross — saying in his nice Canadian accent: "What is that?" I answered him: "It's a religious habit; I am a religious and a priest." He replied: "Ah, but do people like that still exist?" A good discussion ensued, curious as he was about something of which he seemed to be totally ignorant.

Six months ago, I was in Montreal for a three-day session with business executives. The topic was discernment and there were two speakers: a philosopher and "the monk." Having arrived at the session, a man came up to me and said enthusiastically: "You are a monk?" I answered: "Yes, of a sort." "A Buddhist monk?" he replied with a curiosity which was not feigned. I answered him: "No, Catholic!" "Catholic, like the Pope?" he retorted with a rather disquieted and suspicious air. "Yes!" I replied enthusiastically. And I heard before me an "Oh no!" gushing forth from the innermost depths of disappointment. The session unfolded very well afterward and we were able to discuss frankly this first rather cold contact.

These two examples evidence onerous consequences, of what it is appropriate to call here the "peaceful revolution" of the 60s, a slow tsunami, but a tsunami nevertheless that was ecclesial, religious and cultural.

The World Youth Day of Toronto already shook this torpor that weighs on Canadian society, and particularly on this French-speaking part, which this year celebrates the 400th anniversary of Quebec, called initially "Mary's city."

It was the first visible ecclesial event since the Church was relegated outside the public domain. The Eucharistic Congress is a determinant stage on the path to proposing the faith. It is so because of the visibility of the event, the extent of the organization, and the audacity of certain initiatives of Cardinal [Marc] Ouellet and his team.

I am thinking especially of the spiritual effect, of the mobilisation of so many people of good will, of so many parishes, of those perpetual adorations set up in different places, of the prayer engaged in for several months already for this Congress. God hears a Church that prays. God multiplies his works in hearts that are open to his grace.

Q: Can you give us a taste of what you will say at the Congress?

Father Buttet: Cardinal Ouellet asked me to bring, above all, a personal testimony on the Eucharist. Therefore, I will speak of my encounter with Jesus-Host, but also of the overwhelming way that my experiences in the world led me to bring Jesus to so many persons.

I remember a Mass in China, celebrated at the back of a stable, behind the cows so that the police would not come to look for us.

But I have also asked several young people that we receive in our community, young people from the street, from the drug milieu, or those who have experienced depression, to write in a few words their relationship with Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament and what the Mass and adoration offer them. I will share this.

My conclusion will be very clear: It's the hour of the Eucharist! It's the "kairos," because its the hour of Christ and in the Eucharist we have Jesus and the whole mystery of salvation.

John Paul II said that there was no risk of exaggeration in the worship rendered to this mystery because it is Jesus himself that this worship addresses. I think we can engage in a "profound revolution," that of hearts and of society.

Benedict XVI took as a sign and a mission the fact that he ascended the Chair of Peter at the height of the Eucharistic Year. It was for him the occasion to engage in the development of Eucharistic worship, the centre of his Petrine ministry. And we know how he went about it. It was he who asked the bishops to introduce in their dioceses at least a place of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He showed them by example, instituting five [such places] in Rome.

The Eucharist is a school of liberty and a school of charity. But, above all, it is the source of the supernatural life of the baptised, without which one remains human, indeed "too human," Nietzsche would have said.

Q: Catholics, including practising Catholics, are at times not keen on entering the mystery of the Eucharist. They go to communion without conviction, out of habit. And yet the Eucharist is vital in a Catholic's faith. How can one help believers to understand the profound significance of the Eucharist?

Father Buttet: Quebec's Blessed Dina Belanger, beatified in 1993 by John Paul II, wrote one day in her diary: "If souls but understood what treasure they possess in the divine Eucharist, it would be necessary to protect the tabernacles by impregnable ramparts because, in the delirium of a holy and devouring hunger, they would themselves go to be nourished by the Bread of Angels. The churches would be brimming with adorers consumed by love for the divine prisoner, both during the day and the night."

But one is not there! It's true that the mystery is so great, the distance so enormous between that which our senses perceive — some bread — and that which our faith believes — Jesus — that it isn't easy to enter into the mystery.

I think there are three things to develop: a Eucharistic catechesis which includes words and examples. "Let us enter the school of saints, great interpreters of authentic Eucharistic piety," John Paul II said at the end of his encyclical on the Eucharist.

Second, light must focus on the consecration at Mass and the tabernacle in churches. I am always astounded by the little devotion there is during the Eucharistic celebration at the moment of consecration. It is a moment that is hurried over. One can believe with words, but with the gestures one poses in these moments one is not fooled.

One day I was with friends. The parents had a three-year-old girl. They had her baptised and then, by tradition and out of duty, went to Mass with her every Sunday. The girl's aunt is a committed Catholic. It was time to go to Mass and the mother asked her little girl: "With whom would you like to go to Mass, with mommy or auntie?" And the girl answered without hesitation: "with auntie!"

"Why?" her mother asked. "Because she believes!" replied the little girl with even less hesitation.

I think there are gestures, attitudes which are a catechesis in themselves.

I was in China. Zachary, an old catechist, who risked his life to proclaim Jesus and who had reached 100 years of age had kept, in a hidden place in his home, a tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament. Happily, he had me discover his treasure behind a hidden door. Hardly had we entered the area when Zachary fell to his knees, prostrated himself with his forehead on the ground and began some prayers. I understood that it was Jesus who was there! There was no hesitation possible.

The third thing is Eucharistic adoration and Eucharistic devotion outside of Mass. This mystery is so great that the liturgy alone will never allow us to go sufficiently deeply. Only a prolonged exposition to the mystery of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament enables us to enter progressively into the Eucharistic wonder.

I am thinking of the testimony of 21-year-old Maxime: "For me, the Eucharist is the centre of my life. Jesus-Eucharist has pulled me out of the hell of drugs. Thanks to the Eucharist, my life has been transformed and I am now happy to live to serve Christ. The Eucharist is my strength to love, to follow and serve Christ through joys and sorrows. God loves us infinitely and he will never abandon us."

Part 2

Interview With Speaker at International Congress

By Gisèle Plantec

QUEBEC, 18 JUNE 2008 (ZENIT)

The founder of a fraternity dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament says he discovered the same, unique Jesus present in the Eucharist and in the weakness and poverty of the world's poor and handicapped.

Father Nicolas Buttet is the founder of the Eucharistein Fraternity, and was invited to speak Tuesday at the International Eucharistic Congress, under way in Quebec through Sunday.

He also spoke with ZENIT about his own discovery of the importance of the Eucharist and the inspirations behind the fraternity he founded.

Part 1 of this interview was published Tuesday.

Q: Can you tell us how you discovered the importance of the Eucharist?

Father Buttet: Some 20 years ago, I was working as a lawyer and engaged in many political activities as deputy in a cantonal parliament in Switzerland and as secretary of a national parliamentary group. I was moreover also confronted both with important social questions as well as personal problems, of a family and social nature. 

In the context of my work in a law office, I was deeply upset by a young man who had raped and burned seven children. This contact between that painful reality and my faith wrung a cry from my heart: "If there is no love, the world will not be able to go on!" 

I then decided to experience that love close up by spending my Christmas holidays at the Cottolengo in Turin, an institution that receives people suffering from serious physical and mental handicaps. 

I remember my arrival in the house: I had left the Swiss parliament and was landing, ignorant and poor, in the world — new for me — of our handicapped brothers and sisters. I was immediately plunged into the reality of the place because, soon after my arrival, together with a religious brother, we spent two hours washing 18 patients who were filthy from head to toe. After the first reaction to the odours and colours, I was gripped that night by that word of Christ who took flesh and what flesh! "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Matthew 25). 

After having finished washing these handicapped brothers, around midnight, I went down to the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed day and night. For me, it was the shock, the certainty of his real, corporal Presence. I discovered at the same time the presence of Jesus, above on the beds in the persons of my invalid brothers and that shining Presence of Jesus on the altar in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus was certainly there under the appearance of a brother and under the appearances of bread. The same and unique Jesus. 

That certainty has never left me since that date, even if it is now, unhappily, and I say it with a contrite heart, faltering and scattered with so many inconsistencies as regards the exercise of love. I console myself quoting St. Claude La Colombiere who said: "to say that I am still not there after more than 10,000 communions!"

Q: Tell us a bit about the Eucharistein Fraternity? What is its principal charism?

Father Buttet: Our little community is of Franciscan inspiration in its poor lifestyle and closeness to nature: We build and repair houses ourselves, we develop agriculture and forestry. We are certainly rooted in the Eucharistic life. It's the heart of our life and our vocation. We have daily adoration in our houses from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m two to three nights a week. We have also launched, with laymen and the permission of the bishop, perpetual adoration in Fribourg, Switzerland: 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

The inspiration of our Eucharistic life comes from St. Peter Julien Eymard, a great prophet of the Eucharist of the 19th century. It was he who said: "I have often reflected on the remedies to that universal indifference that takes hold of so many Catholics in a frightful way, and I find only one: the Eucharist, the love of the Eucharistic Jesus. The loss of faith comes from the loss of love." 

On another occasion, he said: "Now, one must get to work, save souls through the divine Eucharist and wake up France and Europe, engulfed in a sleep of indifference because they do not know Jesus, the gift of God, the Eucharistic Emmanuel. It's the torch of love that must be carried to lukewarm souls, who believe themselves to be pious and are not so because they have not established their centre and their life on the Eucharistic Jesus." 

We also receive young people in difficulties. We are inspired in this by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in that relationship between the Sacrament of the altar and the sacrament of a brother. It is there that we experience, almost clinically, if I dare say so, the force and strength of reconstruction and grace of Jesus in his sacrament of love. In a word, we have special missions, parishes, politicians and businessmen, and the spiritual animation of the Philanthropos institute. And, of course, our inspirer in this mission of being all to all is St. Francis de Sales.

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MERCY AND FORGIVENESS IN ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY (from Bose Monastery)

The Monastic Community of Bose

Joseph A. Komonchak
May 31, 2006 
my source: Commonweal blog

Halfway between Milan and Turin, in a little hollow below a glacial morain, with the foothills of the Italian Alps providing the distant horizon, sits the monastery of Bose, one of the most important religious foundations in Italy since the Second Vatican Council. On the day the Council closed, December 8, 1965, Enzo Bianchi, a 21-year-old layman, began to live a monastic life in an abandoned farm house. It would be only in August of 1968 that three others decided to join him at Bose. One of them was a pastor in the Swiss Reformed Church, and one of them was a woman. With them two of the chief characteristics of the monastic community of Bose were established: it would be ecumenical in membership and would include both men and women. The experiment had to survive the opposition of the local bishop, but thanks to the support of the cardinal archbishop of Turin, the community survived and grew and eventually won the formal approval of a later bishop.

Forty years later the community consists of some eighty members, with the men in a slight majority; the median age is around 40. Most of the members are from northern Italy, but several other European countries are represented, and there is one American. One member is the retired Orthodox Metropolitan of Sylivira, Emilianos Timiadis, who had served as personal representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch at the World Council of Churches; there are at least four Protestants in the community. The primary vocation is monastic and so only five of the monks are ordained priests to see to the sacramental needs of the community and of the thousands of guests who descend upon the monastery throughout the year. The community has its own monastic rule, which borrows from earlier monastic traditions but follows none of them exactly.

The day is structured around the common prayer. The monks arise at 4:30 for private prayer and then join in common morning prayer at 6:00. The rest of the morning is devoted to the various activities that monks perform (from iconography to tending the gardens; from carpentry to writing; from translating to bottling teas, condiments, olive oil, and spices). Midday prayer is at 12:30, and after an afternoon of work and study, evening prayer is chanted at 6:30. The altum silentium runs from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM.

The common prayer is sung in Italian with an adaptation of Gregorian chant sung in lovely harmonies. The texts of the Psaltery have been newly translated from the Hebrew and with an eye also to the traditional christological interpretation of the Psalms. The antiphons are always drawn from the Scriptures, and they constantly invoke the redemption effected in Christ, with particular, continuous insistence on Christs resurrection. The Sunday liturgy especially focuses on the resurrection. At a Saturday vigil, one of the monks leads a public lectio divina of the next days scriptural passages; Sunday morning prayer is called a celebration of the resurrection, at which, following an Orthodox tradition, one of the Gospel resurrection narratives is read. The spirituality cultivated at Bose is wholly centered upon the Word of God in the Scriptures, illumined also by the meditations of the Fathers and of the great spiritual masters.

The community has its own publishing house, Qiqayon (the Hebrew name of the shrub that grew up to shelter Jonah from the heat), which has published many texts of theology and of the various schools of Christian and Jewish spirituality. The monastery has hosted scholarly symposia on ecumenical, inter-religious, spiritual and theological subjects. Monks offer regular courses in biblical Hebrew and Greek. Enzo Bianchi offers frequent Encounters, talks on spiritual and theological themes. The Sunday I was there he gave the second in a series of meditations and reflections on The Experience of God in the Old Testament. Over 500 people attended, and I was told another 250 had to be turned down for lack of space.

Bianchi, prior of the community but never ordained himself, has become an important figure in the Church in Italy. He is regularly called upon to give retreats for bishops and priests. He writes regular columns on contemporary affairs for newspapers: one recent one was on the code of mediocrity exemplified by a certain popular novel. He was asked to compose the liturgies of repentance that Pope John Paul II led on the first Sunday of Lent in 2000.

To accommodate the growing number of people who want to come to share the experience of prayer and spiritual commitment, the community recently opened a new guesthouse, and the monks are now constructing a better facility for those who wish to camp out at the monastery. Guests are welcomed regardless of their ability to pay, although, of course, recommendations for daily expenses are provided for those who can pay. Guests are welcome to attend and participate in the daily prayer and in the twice-weekly eucharists. Priests are available for confession, and monks for spiritual conversation. The area is very quiet, and walks are possible along rural roads and on paths through the woods, where, however, one may find oneself pausing at the sign that announces that the hunting of wild boar is permitted in these woods. A ten-minute walk brings one to the restored Romanesque church of San Secondo, built in the eleventh and twelfth century, the main church being the simplest of constructions to which was added a bell-tower that is considered one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in the region. There are various views of the church that enable one to imagine how it must have looked in the Middle Ages, quiet opportunities to reflect on the living of the faith in tiny communities like the one that built this church: the Church alive then, as now, only in and as Churches like the community of men and women of San Secundo.

The monastic community of Bose has its own Web site with information about the community and a few photos.

Perhaps others can comment on their experience at Bose. In any case, if you ever wish to include time for personal spiritual reflection on a trip to Europe, give some thought to going to Bose.

Enzo Bianchi and Bishop Epiphanios

23rd CONFERENCE ON ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY

ON MERCY AND FORGIVENESS

9th - 12th September, 2015

XXIII International Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox Spirituality
Bose, 9-12 September 2015
Mercy and forgiveness
in collaboration with the Orthodox Churches

The 23 International Ecumenical Conference of Orthodox Spirituality (Bose, 9-12 September 2015) will be dedicated to the theme “Mercy and Forgiveness”, as chosen by the Scientific Committee of the Ecumenical Conferences, which met in Bose on 4-5 October.

The experience of evil, of the suffering that human beings inflict on one another seems to mark the human adventure from the very beginning. Yet God reveals himself as the God of mercy and compassion (Ex 34,5); mercy is the face of God that Jesus reveals to men.

By interrogating Scripture, the fathers and the monastic tradition (Dorotheus of Gaza, John Climacus, Isaac of Nineveh, the saints of the orthodox churches), the conference wishes to reflect on Christian forgiveness. This is a road that passes through the knowledge of one's own sins and the acceptance of offered forgiveness. Some testimonies of mercy, disciples of Christ meek and humble of heart, will speak to us of the power and the prophetic force of forgiveness.

Sharing perspectives, listening to the Word of God and the great tradition of the Orthodox Churches, the conference hopes to affront the questions that are asked of Christian hope. How can God's pardon be announced today? How can wounded memory be healed? Where can the joy of forgiveness between Churches and between men be found? What are today the places of Christian forgiveness (spouses that separate, rebuilding trust after conflicts, re-composition of relations between persons and in communities)?

Christ's cross is the judgment that “does truth” on good and evil and opens the time and space of God's mercy and his forgiveness. This is the forgiveness that Christians are called upon to receive and to transmit to their fellow brothers and sisters.

Will be present the official representatives of all the Orthodox Churches, of the Roman Catholic Church, of the Church of England, Biblical scholars, patrologists, theologians, monks of the East and of the West, philosophers, and writers from all around the world.

The conference is open to all; the definitive program will be published on this site shortly.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:

Enzo Bianchi (Bose), Lino Breda (Bose), Sabino Chialà (Bose), Lisa Cremaschi (Bose), Hervé Legrand (Parigi), Adalberto Mainardi (Bose), Antonio Rigo (Venezia), Luigi d'Ayala Valva (Bose), Michel Van Parys (Chevetogne)

MESSAGE FROM KARECHIN II, CATHOLIKOS OF ALL ARMENIANS

From the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Spiritual Center of All Armenians, we bring our Pontifical blessings to all participants of the 23rd International Ecumenical Conference, themed this year as “Mercy and Forgiveness”.

It is admirable that in this gathering you will revalue the exhortations and teachings on mercy and forgiveness of the significant authors and theologians of the Church; and presenting your own thoughts, also discuss issues on the actuality of harmony and cooperation between the churches.

The core of the salvation, offered us by our Lord, is the limitless love. The Savior ordered us to love and forgive, and gave us an example of absolution in the Lord’s Prayer, as the Lord’s forgiveness of us. The Apostle teaches us saying, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). The realization of these commandments is the guarantee of peace and harmony in the life of humanity. But the suffering and sorrow plaguing the safe progression of mankind in different countries, and unceasing conflicts especially in Syria, the Middle East, and Ukraine; is witness to the absence of mercy, forgiveness, and tolerance. The discord and conflict in families and communities are caused by ignoring the love and forgiveness inherited from our Lord Jesus Christ. All actions driven and conditioned by material wealth, political and economical interests, disrupt the importance of spirituality, and the enduring awareness and perception of virtue, as commanded by the Lord. Facing these issues, it is a challenge to keep the passion of faith bright in the World, to spread the life-giving light of the gospel commandments, so that the words of St. Gregory of Narek turn into reality - sighs retreat from human’s life, darkness flees, sins melt away, demons flee, corruption is cleansed, sadness withdraws, chains undone, evil is destroyed, infirmities are cured and Lord’s omnipotent hand rules redeemer of all. (cf. Book of Lamentations, 41A)

It is appreciated that during this conference you will also reflect on the deepening of solidarity between churches and the importance of cooperation. Our churches have been divided for centuries as a result of dissent in doctrinal teachings, and were not in harmony with one another. Nowadays ecumenical movements and inter-church, theological, Christological and ecclesiological dialogues promotes the discussion of current challenges, and increases the cooperation between churches for the sake of reinforcing a common mission of the wellbeing of mankind in accordance with Christ’s prayerful commandment. “I do not ask for these onlybut also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you” (John 17:20-21). Indeed, efforts towards this and such assemblies are significant impetus in the strengthening of the mission of the Church of Christ.

Dear Ones, we offer our blessings to the participants of this conference once again: and to the organizers of this conference, to devoted and pious brothers and sisters of the monastery of Bose led by the prior Enzo Bianchi, wishing them all good health and heaven sent success in service to the Lord.

            We pray that mercy and forgiveness increase the world over, that peace be spread across the countries, troubled by military situations, and that humanity creates a safe and just future according to the wishes of the Lord. We pray to Almighty God to grant you strength and drive to make your work fruitful within this conference. May God protect you all under his Almighty Right Hand.

With blessings,

+ Karekin II
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians

HERE IS A SELECTION OF ABSTRACTS.  THE FULL LIST AND MUCH MORE INFORMATION IS FOUND ON THE MONASTERY'S WEBSITE:

  http://www.monasterodibose.it/en/hospitality/conferences/orthodox-spirituality/2015-mercy

EXCELLENT PHOTOS, THANKS TO JIM FOREST, ONE OF THOSE TAKING PART, ARE AT:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/albums/72157658153256498

METROPOLITAN KALLISTOS WARE

ABSTRACT

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). The prayer given to us by Jesus, while comprehensive, is also exceedingly concise. If , them in this short yet wide-ranging prayer, nearly a quarter is devoted to the theme of forgiveness, this indicates how crucially important it is in God’s sight that we should forgive and be forgiven. In the words of the Russian Orthodox starets St Silouan of Mount Athos (1866-1938), “Where there is forgiveness…there is freedom”. If only we can bring ourselves to forgive—if we can at least want to forgive—then we shall find ourselves in what the Psalms call a “spacious place” or “a place of liberty”: “We went through fire and water, but Thou broughtest us out into a place of liberty” (Psalm 66:12). Forgiveness means release from a prison in which all the doors are locked on the inside. Only through forgiveness can we enter into what St Paul terms “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).

FATHER JOHN BEHR

ABSTRACT

The God of the Scriptures is a God of mercy: this is proclaimed repeatedly by the prophets and especially in the Psalms. “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” (Ex 34:5-7).

Yet, the words from Exodus also indicate that the covenant that the Lord establishes is a terrible work – something never seen before in all the earth or in any nation.

When these events and words surrounding the exodus from Egypt are seen as a type and a prefigurement of the awe-inspiring event of the Passion, then we are drawn into an even profounder understanding of the mercy of God, revealed as Christ passes over in his own exodus through the Cross (cf. Luke 9:31). The mercy and faithful love of God is indeed not temporary or transitory, but eternal – stretching out from the beginning to the end, creation to recreation, in an all embrasive economy or pedagogy, bringing us, through suffering, death, and repentance, to share in his life and to show the same mercy towards others that God shows towards us. For the God who is known as the God of mercy, calls us to this: “Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36)

FATHER EUGEN PENTIUC

ABSTRACT

Genesis 37-50, one of the most elaborate narratives of the Bible, sets the stage for a subtle process of reconciliation where every character actively involved in the story undergoes a profound transformation. At the first sight, “Joseph and His Brothers” looks like a story of revenge, where Joseph, an angry viceroy and former pampered teenage-shepherd, seeks to pay his brothers back for their crime. However, Joseph’s harsh attitude towards his brothers had only one goal: to make sure that the perpetrators have changed or repented. In both traditions, Jewish (teshubah“return”) and Christian (metanoia “change of mind”), repentance is neither a feeling nor a declaration but rather a call to action: “Return / Change your mind!” Return to what? To oneself, one may answer. 

If sinning is estranging from oneself, repentance is moving away from sin by returning to oneself (Is 55:7; Jer 31:18). According to Maimonides, the “true repentant” (ba‘al teshubah, lit. “master of repentance”) is that person who confronted by a similar circumstance wherein (s)he transgressed, (s)he abstains from committing the same mistake, thus proving that (s)he changed / returned to oneself. Similar circumstances to the ones wherein the brothers sold Joseph to the Ismaelites are recreated, so that the main characters of the story may be tested again. The paper examines in detail the inner transformations of the main cast (i.e., Jacob, Judah, Reuben, and Joseph), as prerequisite for forgiveness and reconciliation.

DR SEBASTIAN BROCK

ABSTRACT

The Syriac Christian tradition inherited from Judaism the concept of the balance between the two attributes of God, Justice and Mercy. For the seventh-century monastic author Isaac the Syrian, however, ‘Just as a grain of sand cannot counterbalance a great weight of gold, so, on the scales, is God’s employment of his justice by comparison with his compassion’. The paper explores how, for Isaac, God’s mercy does not just outweigh his justice, but transcends it. It was on the basis of this understanding that Isaac was led to his views on universal salvation, set out in most detail at the end of the Second Collection of his writings.

FOR MORE BY SEBASTIAN BROCK ON ST ISAAC CLICK HERE

EPIPHANIOS, BISHOP &

IGUMEN OF ST MACARIOS THE GREAT

click at St Macarios Monastery

Bishop Epiphanios

ABSTRACT

Father Matta el Meskin

Matta el Meskin (1919–2006) was monk and igumen of St Macarius Monastery in the Scete desert. With special human and spiritual charism, he was a luminous figure among Egyptian Christians and father of a remarkable spiritual and monastic renewal within the Coptic Church. Mercy and pardon occupied an important place in his life and preaching. For him they represented an index of the the new man created in us by Christ. The injured party has the obligation to take up the burden of mercy by imitating God;s love, who humbled himself so that Adam the lost sheep, might return to his original glory. In the world turned upside down by Christ, in which to be first it is necessary to become last, to forgive is an act of great interior force. Love is the ultimate reality, in which humanity will live forever.

Here is a writing of Father Matta el Meskin on the Love of God:

THE BREADTH OF GOD'S LOVE FOR AND IN MANKIND

by Father Matta el Meskin

© Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great
my source: Orthodox Spirituality 

"The Father loves the Son" (Jn. 3:35,) because He is of His own nature. 

"As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you" (Jn. 15:9,) because He took on our nature. 

"As hast loved them even as Thou loved me" (Jn. 17:23.) A love springing from the Father's nature to us, as was given to Him. 

"For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me" (Jn. 16:27,) because of our fellowship in the nature of the Son. 

"That the love with which Thou hast loved Me may be in them" (Jn. 17:26.) Thus, we have fellowship through the Father and through the Son. 

His love emanates from His own nature, and not due to anything within us. Therefore, He loved us without any prerequisite or merit on our part. 

Our love for Christ through the Holy Spirit uncovers the depth of our love to God the Father and opens up the flow of the Father's love to us: "For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me and believed that I came out from God" (Jn. 16:27.) 

Our love for God was impossible because of sin and the judgment of death. Removing the barricade, Christ, the Son, opened the way for us to God the Father's love. Through the cross He broke down the barriers, which were sin and the curse of death, that separated us from God the Father. He revealed God the Father's love, which He held bound within Himself, waiting for redemption, t he forgiveness of sins and the removal of the barriers: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" (Jn. 3:16.) The Father's love was then poured out upon us. 

The Father's love, which had been confined and forbidden to us, overflowed upon us freely in Christ through the cross. Previously impossible due to our unworthiness, through the opening Christ made for us through the cross, our easily ascended to God the Father. 

"And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another" (1 Jn. 3:23.) 

Faith in Christ is completed by love for one another; if we do not love one another, our faith is incomplete. Such is the Christian faith! 

Faith in Christ means love for one another: "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:35.) Of ourselves, there is no source of love for one another. With the exception of the natural, animal love of the flesh, this is difficult, and in fact, impossible. The type of love with which we are commanded to love one another by the Father and the Son comes from the bounty of the Father and Son's love, because it emanates from His Being and not from our human, animal nature. Our human nature is as the Apostle Paul says: "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh" (Rom. 7:18.) For that reason, He commanded us often and with persistence to love one another, because He is the owner and giver of this love. 

From the bounty of the Father and the Son's love, we love one another and those close to us. It is therefore impossible to have the capability or facility to love one another if the Father and Son's love in us is not acquired through fervent worship. We love one another at God's expense, not at our own personal expense. Our love for one another is the realistic and honest proof of our love for God. 

If such is the case, then, for those who love God, loving one another becomes extremely easy. No barrier can block it, not even death. The reason is that our love is drawn from the credit God entrusted to us, and is not related to our nature or our lives. 

There are people whom we see and know very well whose love for one another has become a joy to them, a delight, a spontaneity; to the point of appearing reckless with their money, offspring, and life. The secret is that they are "squandering" from a fund that is no theirs but from an inexhaustible Divine fund. From God's pocket, they help themselves, then distribute and squander to those who deserve it and those who do not equally. Whosoever asks, give to them; do not reject the one who asks, for whatever is asked for shall be granted. Such is their attitude. 

As they know that this is a very important commandment of God, they do not rest by day or by night in sacrificing and serving others to delight God's heart. Whenever they distribute generously, the bounty of God is renewed in their hearts. 

We have faith and believe that God loved us in Christ, whose Father gave Him over to slaughter for our sakes. When we accept it, His love becomes effective in our hearts. With this faith and sincere belief, our feelings, hearts, and minds open up to realize the great extent of His love for us, and we are daily reassured of its existence. If we accept it with sufficient honor and give it our constant care, it will become effective and overflow from the depth of our hearts without effort. On its own, it will overflow upon everyone, unhindered by our weighing or measuring it. It is a gift of God that will exist forever, because, as Habakkuk the prophet said, it is His commandment from His own mouth, and He is watchful to fulfill and renew His work throughout the years (Hab 3:2.) 

We said that God the Father's love for His only Son comes from His nature, and Christ's love for is also a love of His divine nature. Whoever therefore loves this love and sincerely feels it in spirit will feel the flame of divine love simmer in his heart, because he loives in the force of a divine nature burning within him. 

For that reason, following the Resurrection, God the Father sent the flaming Holy Spirit. Coming in a clear and visible manner, He was sent through the Son to live in renewed mankind. He inflames our hearts and spirit with the love of God the Father and Christ so that we can live in the fellowship of the Father and Jesus Christ. "I send the promise of My Father upon you" (Lk. 24:49.) As Saint John cried for in his epistle, crying out to all the faithful that this fellowship is for them. In order that our joy may be complete, they too are associates with the apostles in God. 

God loves mankind. He loves every one truly, made clear through the crucifixion of our Lord. If He loves the One, the He loves each and every one. Therefore His love for one goes inevitably to the rest. This is a right, an obligation, and it must be so, so that everyone can gather together through love. 

Our love for God cannot equal His love unless it extends to everyone. "This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12.) With it, God thus becomes the all in all. For in Christ's words, "I in them and Thou in Me, that they may become perfectly one" (Jn. 17:23,) lie the extraordinary mystery of the nature of the divine love, the element of agreement, assembly, and unification. On this basis, Christ says at the end of this chapter, "I made known to them Thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which Thou has loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (Jn. 17:26.) 

Take heed, dear reader, Christ is in us when He pours out His love in us. Therefore when the Apostle Paul says with divine awareness, "...that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Eph. 3:17,) he knows He will come and with Him love, the secret key that opens the path to the Father. What more could the Apostle Paul want after the Father and Son have entered our hearts? Does it not mean that love has overflowed our hearts? 

God, to ensure that His love dwells in our hearts in all its strength, immensity, and variety, sent the Holy Spirit, bearing the complete nature of God's love: "... and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19.) 

Does not that mean the fullness of God's love? 

Written on the eve of June 6, 1999



Credit and Attribution:
Father Matthew the Poor was Spiritual Father of the Monastery of St. Macarius, Wadi el-Natroun, Egypt. This article was originally published by the St. Mark Monthly Review, a journal published by the monastery.

 videos on Father Matta el Meskeen or Meskin, click HERE

A GLIMPSE OF DIVINE MERCY, FACE TO FACE, IN THE CATHOLIC WEST

And in this he showed me a little   thing, the quantity of a hazel nut,  lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as    any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and       thought, ‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus, ‘It is all that is made.’ I marveled how  it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness.

And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and     ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by  the love of God.  In this little thing I saw three        properties. The first is that God   made it. The second that God loves it . And the third, that God keeps   it.” 

 “It is easier for us to get to know  God than to know our own soul... God is nearer to us than our soul,  for He is the ground in which it      stands...so if we want to know our own soul, and enjoy its fellowship, it is necessary to seek it in   our      Lord God.” 

 “For as the body is clad in the      cloth, and the flesh in the skin, and the bones in the flesh, and the     heart in the whole, [34] so are we, soul and body, clad in the   Goodness of God, and enclosed.” 

......deeds are done which appear so  evil to us and people suffer such    terrible evils that it does not       seem as though any good will ever come of them; and we conside     this,     sorrowing     and grieving      over it so that we         cannot find peace in the    blessed        contemplation of God as   we   should do; and this is why:    our reasoning    powers are so blind now, so humble and so simple,      that we cannot know the high      marvelous wisdom, the might and the goodness of the Holy Trinity.   And this is what he means where  he says, 'You shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be  well', as if he said, 'Pay attention   this now, faithfully and confidently, and at the end of time you will     truly see it in the fullness of joy.

“And I saw that truly nothing happens by accident or luck, but everything by God's wise providence. If it seems to be accident or luck from our point of view, our blindness and lack of foreknowledge is the cause; for matters that have been in God's foreseeing wisdom since before time began befall us suddenly, all unawares; and so in our blindness and ignorance we say that this is accident or luck, but to our Lord God it is not so.” 

“If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.” 

“...we need to fall, and we need to be aware of it; for if we did not fall, we should not know how weak and wretched we are of ourselves, nor should we know our Maker's marvellous love so fully...”

See that I am God. See that I am in everything. See that I do everything.See that I have never stopped ordering my works, nor ever shall, eternally. See that I lead everything on to the conclusion I ordained for it before time began, by the same power, wisdom and love with which I made it. How can anything be amiss?” 

“God loved us before he made us; and his love has never diminished and never shall.”

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.” 

  

― Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Dame Julian's understanding of the relationship between God's love and his creation is remarkably like the theology of

 St Isaac the  Syrian

Ministries of Mercy: Mother Teresa
She stirred a generation by touching the untouchables.
Ruth A. Tucker | posted 1/01/2000 

my source: Christian History

Mother Teresa belongs to the whole world—not to Roman Catholics only, not to Christians only. Indeed, she is the first religious figure in history to be revered during her lifetime by adherents of all religions and Christians of all denominations. And when she died in 1997, there was a universal outpouring of heartfelt appreciation and reverence for her long life of service.

Humility, simplicity, and sacrifice are the terms most often associated with Mother Teresa and her work—though many who encountered her personally would quickly add tenacity. And this tenacity was often accompanied by a stern, uncompromising demeanor. She was driven by an unswerving conviction that she was called by God to reach out to the poorest of the poor, and this conviction left little room to entertain the objections of government officials, church authorities, or even military leaders.

In a famous televised scene from 1985, she insisted that a government minister from Ethiopia give her Missionaries of Charity two unused buildings to be made into orphanages. With cameras rolling, the minister balked but finally had no choice but to capitulate. Pop singer Bob Geldorf, in Ethiopia as part of his Band Aid campaign, witnessed this exchange in the Addis Ababa airport and remarked, "There was a certainty of purpose which left her little patience. But she was totally selfless; every moment her aim seemed to be, how can I use this or that situation to help others?"

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albania in 1910. Her father was a businessman whose death when she was 9 years old left the family in difficult financial circumstances. But their faith sustained them. With her mother and brother and sister, Agnes attended church every day, and she sang in the church choir. Her widowed mother, though nearly destitute herself, volunteered in the neighborhood, caring for an invalid alcoholic woman and later taking six orphaned children into her own home. It was a model of servanthood that did not go unnoticed by young Agnes.

At age 12, Agnes sensed God calling her to his service, but she struggled with how she could know for certain. She prayed and talked with her mother and sister, but she had no real peace. Then she talked with her Father confessor. "How can I be sure?" she asked. He answered, "Through your joy. If you feel really happy by the idea that God might call you to serve him, then this is the evidence that you have a call. The deep inner joy that you feel is the compass that indicates your direction in life."

"By blood and origin, I am all Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. 
As to my calling, I belong to the whole world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to Jesus."
—Mother Teresa
The joy of serving God stayed with her, and in 1929, at age 19, she was in Calcutta preparing to become a teacher and a nun. From the beginning, she was concerned for the poor, but for two decades, her assigned ministry was in the classroom—primarily at the Loreto Convent, where she taught geography to schoolgirls. She loved her students and they loved her, and soon they were joining her on weekends as she went into the streets to care for the sick and the hungry.

Mother Teresa's call to devote herself entirely to serving the poor came suddenly. It was a clear call from God, she insisted, not pity for the poor. And it was a call that was not easily answered in the affirmative: "To leave Loreto was my greatest sacrifice, the most difficult thing I have ever done," she later reflected. "It was much more difficult than to leave my family and country to enter religious life. Loreto meant everything to me."

She experienced the call in 1946 while traveling to a Himalayan retreat:

"It was on that train that I heard the call to give up all and follow him into the slums—to serve him in the poorest of the poor. … I was to leave the convent and work with the poor while living among them. It was an order. I knew where I belonged, but I did not know how to get there."

At 38 Mother Teresa left the security of the Loreto community and exchanged her black and white nun's habit for garb of the street—a white and blue sari. With permission from the pope a year later, a new religious order was born. All of the members were required to take the three basic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, as well as an additional a vow of pledging service to the poor, whom Mother Teresa spoke of as the embodiment of Christ. The nuns were not cloistered, and there was no vow of silence. They lived simply, shared work equally (Mother Teresa helped with the daily washing until she was too feeble to do so), and served the dying and destitute with food, medical supplies, and companionship—whatever they needed most.

Mother Teresa was sometimes challenged about the long-term effects of her humanitarian ministry. For example, she was asked, why give people fish to eat instead of teaching them how to fish? She had a quick response: "But my people can't even stand. They're sick, crippled, demented. When I have given them fish to eat and they can stand, I'll turn them over and you give them the rod to catch the fish."

She was quick to emphasize, however, that she gave people more than "fish." Equally important was that which came from the heart—love and joy. The poor, she insisted, deserve more than just service and dedication: "If our actions are just useful actions that give no joy to the people, our poor people would never be able to rise up to the call which we want them to hear, the call to come closer to God. We want to make them feel that they are loved."

In 1952, four years after she left Loreto community, she opened Nirmal Hriday ("Pure Heart"), a home for dying and destitute people in Calcutta. In the decades that followed, she extended her work to five continents. The first 20 years of the ministry passed essentially unnoticed, but that changed quickly in 1969, when she was interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge for the BBC. A film and a book (both called Something Beautiful for God) by Muggeridge followed, and soon she was on her way to becoming an international celebrity. Special recognition came from Queen Elizabeth and from the U. S. Congress, and even from Harvard University, which granted her an honorary doctorate. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But she was never fully comfortable in the limelight. "For me," she confessed, "it is more difficult than bathing a leper."


Bathing a leper would be her lasting legacy. Of course, she will also be remembered for the international recognition she received, the thousands of nuns who followed her, and the hundreds of homes established around the world. But the image imprinted on the global psyche would be that of a tiny wrinkled old woman reaching out and touching those consigned to the trash heap of humanity.

1910 Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu born in Skopje, Macedonia (Albania)

1913 Acclaimed theologian and organist Albert Schweitzer begins medical missionary work in Africa

1929 Sister Teresa arrives in Calcutta

1944 National Association of Evangelicals establishes the War Relief Commission (renamed World Relief in 1950)

1946 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) established

1947 India gains independence from Great Britain

1950 Order of the Missionaries of Charity approved by Pope Pius XII; Bob Pierce founds World Vision

1952 Mother Teresa establishes Nirmal Hriday, her first Home for Dying Destitutes

1961 Peace Corps launched; Amnesty International founded

1966 Brother Andrew takes charge of the Missionary Brothers of Charity, the order's male branch

1969 Malcolm Muggeridge's BBC film Something Beautiful for God brings Mother Teresa worldwide recognition

1979 Mother Teresa wins the Nobel Peace Prize

1985 Band Aid, a charity effort of several popular music groups, raises money for famine in Ethiopia

1997 Mother Teresa dies

In my television interview with Mother Teresa, I raised the point as to whether, in view of the commonly held opinion that there are too many people in India, it was really worth while trying to salvage a few abandoned children who might otherwise be expected to die of neglect, malnutrition, or some related illness. It was a point, as I was to discover subsequently, so remote from her whole way of looking at life that she had difficulty in grasping it. The notion that there could in any circumstances be too many children was, to her, as inconceivable as suggesting that there are too many bluebells in the woods or stars in the sky. In the film we made in Calcutta, there is a shot of Mother Teresa holding a tiny baby girl in her hands; so minute that her very existence seemed like a miracle. As she holds this child, she says in a voice, and with an expression, of exaltation most wonderful and moving: "See! there's life in her!" Her face is glowing and triumphant; as it might be the mother of us all glorying in what we all possess—this life in us, in our world, in the universe, which, however low it flickers or fiercely burns, is still a divine flame which no man dare presume to put out, be his motives never so humane and enlightened.
— BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge in Something Beautiful for God

 Bl. Mother Teresa and The Merciful Face of Jesus

June 17, 2015

Mother Teresa

photo: Flicker

my source: Illumina Domine

“Seeking the Face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and His hand in every happening; This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world.  Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.”  –Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Many Catholic faithful are hoping and praying for the possible canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta during The Holy Year for Mercy. During the upcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy Pope Francis wants us to “Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and his merciful gaze, that we may experience the love of the Most Holy Trinity.”  He calls us to be merciful to others and reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy as a way of awakening our conscience and enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel so that “we become merciful just as our heavenly Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36)

Blessed Mother Teresa, by her heroic life’s witness of seeking the Face of Christ in the “distressing disguise of the poor,” perfectly exemplified how Christians can live the works of mercy. When someone would ask her what they could do to serve, she was known for taking the person’s hand and touching each finger, she would say, “You-did-it-to-me.” “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me. Whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.”

Blessed Mother Teresa’s example points out to us the primary task of the Church, which, as Pope Francis urges us, is to be “a herald of mercy,” “especially at a moment full of great hopes and signs of contradiction, to introduce everyone to the great mystery of God’s mercy by contemplation of the Face of Christ.”

The greatest desire of Bl. Mother Teresa was “to satiate the thirst of Jesus by serving him in the poorest of the poor.” Though suffering spiritual darkness in her own soul, she allowed the blazing brilliance of Christ’s love to radiate through her face to others and she sought continually Jesus’ face in those she served. In photograph after photograph of Mother Teresa we can see her looking intensely into the faces of children, the poor, the sick and the dying, while tenderly caressing their faces, searching in their face for the face of her beloved, Jesus.  Pope Francis tells us, “We must embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison. “ (Mt 25:31) “To love God and neighbor is not something abstract, but profoundly concrete: it means seeing in every person the face of the Lord to be served, to serve him concretely. And you, dear brothers and sisters are the face of Jesus!”

Blessed Mother Teresa heroically carried out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy by being the Merciful Face of Christ to others and by seeing the Merciful Face of Christ in others. Pope Benedict XVI has characterized devotion to the Holy Face as having three separate components:

The first element is discipleship and orientation of one’s life towards an encounter with Jesus, to see Jesus in the face of those in need. In order to do this, believers first need to become better acquainted with Jesus through the Eucharist.  Mother Teresa’s whole being was directed toward this encounter with Jesus in the poor.

The second element is relating to the Passion of Jesus, and the suffering expressed by the images of the wounded Face of Jesus, relating this to the Eucharistic experience.

 Jesus Crucified hung on the wall of Mother Teresa’s room in Calcutta. It was one of her last sights before dying. She identified completely with the Crucified Jesus. “Jesus, I love with my whole heart, with my whole being, I have given Him all, even my sins, and He has espoused me to Himself in tenderness and love. Now and for life I am the spouse of my Crucified Spouse.”

The third element, the Eucharist, is woven between the other two. The eschatological element then builds on awakening to Christ by contemplating His face in the Eucharist. The Eucharist was central to Mother Teresa’s mission.  “Seek him in the tabernacle. Fix your eyes on Him who is the Light. Bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart and ask Him to grant you the grace of knowing Him.”  She insisted that each Missionary of Charity begin their day in prayerful silence before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus from Whom they drew the strength to serve the poor.

“Jesus gives us two faces,” Pope Francis says, “actually only one real face, that of God reflected in many faces, because in the face of each brother, especially the smallest, the most fragile, the defenseless and the needy, there is God’s own image.  And we must ask ourselves: when we meet one of these brothers, are we able to recognize the face of God in him?”  

If we hope one day to see the Face of God we must open our eyes to our neighbor.  Pope Benedict XVI has said, “closing our eyes to our neighbor also blinds us to God.”

Bl. Mother Teresa, pray for us, help to recognize the Face of Jesus and carry out the “Works of Mercy,” so that we too may contemplate “the Living Face of Christ’s Mercy.”




"Radiating Christ" by Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman was one of Mother Teresa’s favorite prayers…

Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance every I go.
Flood my soul with your Spirit and Life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up, and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be mine.
It will be You, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You in the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for You.  Amen.

What Does 'Divine Mercy' Actually Mean?

By Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD (Oct 27, 2010)

The following is an excerpt from the book Divine Mercy: A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI, by Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD, and published by Marian Press.

Before we can walk through the story of God's merciful love for the human race, we need to have some knowledge of what "Divine Mercy" actually means. The phrase presents us with a semantic problem right from the start. After all, the word "mercy" in contemporary English has a very restricted meaning. It is usually used to refer to an act of pardon, as in "Let me off, judge; have mercy!" or "He threw himself on the mercy of the court." In the Catholic tradition of theology, however, mercy means more than just the cancellation of punishment, far more than that. 

Divine Mercy is God's love reaching down to meet the needs and overcome the miseries of His creatures. The Bible, the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas, and Pope John Paul II all assure us that this is so.

The Old Testament provides us with many images of human misery and of God in His mercy seeking to relieve it. One of most poignant images of such misery is that of a woman suffering the aching loneliness of having no husband and no children — of being completely bereft in the world. This is the spiritual plight of all of us without God. It was used by the Old Testament prophets to signify Israel being reduced to utter misery because of her sins and unfaithfulness to the Lord. But this is not the end of the story. The Lord Yahweh Himself has compassion on the woman by marrying her and making her fruitful. He reaches down to the woman in her misery and raises her up. Where there was only despair, loneliness, and heartache come joy, fruitfulness, and abiding love.

An inspiring example of such steadfast divine love relieving human misery is found in the Old Testament prophet known as Second Isaiah. As he writes, he is encouraging the Jews who are exiles in Babylon not to give up hope that God in His compassion will deliver them:

"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in travail! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her that is married, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; hold not back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.
"Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.
"For this is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you" (Is 54:1-10).

In the Old Testament, there are two principle Hebrew words that we usually translate as mercy. First of all, there is the word hesed, which means "steadfast love, covenant love." Someone who has the attribute of hesed is someone you can always count on, someone who never lets you down. According to the Catholic Biblical scholar John L. Mckenzie, the word hesed is often used in Hebrew in connection with other words which bring out its meaning, such as hesed-emet (steadfast, dependable love), hesed-sedekah (righteous, holy love) and hesed-yesua (rescuing, saving love). In a remarkable endnote to his encyclical Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy), Pope John Paul II teaches that hesed contains the meaning of faithfulness to oneself, to one's own promises and commitments to others (Thus, Professor Scott Hahn's popular book on the Bible is entitled The Father Who Keeps His Promises). The Holy Father writes:

When in the Old Testament the word hesed is used of the Lord, this always occurs in connection with the covenant that God established with Israel. This covenant was, on God's part, a gift and a grace for Israel ... God had made a commitment to respect it ... [this divine hesed] showed itself as what it was at the beginning, that is, as a love that gives, love more powerful than betrayal, grace stronger than sin (no. 52).

As we have seen in our opening example, in a sense, the whole experience of Israel with God is an experience of His hesed-love (Is 54:10): "For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love [hesed] shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you." As John L. Mckenzie has written: "The entire history of the dealing of Yahweh with Israel can be summed up as hesed; it is the dominating motive which appears in his deeds, and the motive which gives unity and intelligibility to all His dealings with men" (Dictionary of the Bible).

The second most common word for God's mercy in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word rachamim: tender, compassionate love, a love that springs from pity. Someone who has rahamim is someone who feels for your plight and is moved with compassion to help you. Rachamim is often used in conjunction with hesed. It comes from a root word rechem, which means a mother's womb. Thus, there is a special intimacy and responsiveness about this kind of love, and a special concern for the sufferings of others. The Holy Father sees hesed as, in a sense, a masculine form of love (steadfast, dependable, righteous, being true to oneself and to one's promises), while rachamim is more feminine (tender, responsive, compassionate, like a mother responding in love to the sufferings of her child).

In the New Testament, the Greek word that is usually translated as "mercy" is the word eleos. It can also be translated as loving kindness or tender compassion. The Greek word comes from a root word meaning oil that is poured out. Thus, when the Church sings in her liturgy the Greek words Kyrie Eleison and Christie Eleison, she is praying that the merciful love of God will be poured out upon her children, like holy oil from above. According to the ancient Fathers of the Church, the Church herself was born from the wounded side of Christ, when out of His heart there poured out blood and water, symbolic of all the graces of the two chief Sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist (Jn 19:34). In short, eleos is God's love poured out upon His people.

In the Latin tradition, the principal word for mercy is misericordia, which means, literally "miserable heart." Father George Kosicki, CSB, the great Divine Mercy evangelist, once summed up the meaning of this Latin word as follows: misericordia means "having a pain in your heart for the pains of others, and taking pains to do something about their pain."

The most comprehensive statement by the Magisterium on the meaning of Divine Mercy can be found in Pope John Paul II's encyclical letter Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy, 1981). In that encyclical, the Holy Father made two very important statements about mercy. First, he wrote, "Mercy is love's second name." Secondly, he taught that mercy is "the greatest attribute of God."

Let us look at each of these statements in turn.

Mercy is Love's Second Name

Here the Pope was not saying anything new. According to the Catholic theological tradition, mercy is a certain kind of love, a certain expression of love.

Love in general might be defined as a sharing and giving of oneself to another, a selfless seeking of the good of another. According to the Polish theologian Ignacy Rozycki: 

Traditional Catholic moral theology treats of the virtue of mercy as flowing from love of neighbor. Namely, it is that virtue which inclines us to offer assistance to a person suffering from want or misery. This being so, "mercy" in moral theology ... is not love itself but love's result and extension (quoted in Pillars of Fire in my Soul: the Spirituality of St. Faustina, Marian Press, 2003, p. 95).

Thus, playing games with one's children, or enjoying and sharing conjugal love with one's spouse, or singing the praises of the Lord at Holy Eucharist, while each of these acts would be considered acts of "love" of various kinds, ordinarily we would not call them acts of "mercy." On the other hand, giving bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and shelter to the homeless — or indeed bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the lost and the broken — these are all acts of merciful love: love reaching down to lift people out of their physical and spiritual miseries.

Mercy is the Greatest Attribute of God

Pope John Paul II wrote in Dives in Misericordia: "The Bible, Tradition, and the whole faith life of the People of God provide unique proof ... that mercy is the greatest of the attributes and perfections of God" (no. 13). As we shall see later in this book, the Pope was reiterating here the teaching of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. But we still may want to know how this can be true. How can any of God's perfections be "greater" than any other? According to the Christian philosophical tradition and the definition of God given at the First Vatican Council, God is one, simple, spiritual, infinitely perfect act of Being. He does not have "parts" as bodily creatures do. Rather, each of His perfections — such as His love, His goodness, His power, and His wisdom — is just another name for what He is. The Polish theologian Fr. Ignacy Rozycki explained it like this: 

In this sense, all of God's attributes are God, one and the same. For this reason, all are absolutely equal to each other. Divine Mercy is as infinitely perfect as His Wisdom or Power, for it is likewise God, and the same God, just as Divine Wisdom and Divine Power are God (Pillars of Fire, p. 96).  
“God loved us before he made us; and his love has never diminished and never shall.” 

In other words, God does not just do merciful things sometimes, nor does He have a merciful "side" to His character, as a human being might have. On the contrary, He is always and everywhere and at all times merciful. Everything He does is an expression of His Mercy — and of all of His other attributes too, all at once. All of His attributes are eternally in action! But then Fr. Rozycki goes on to write:

If, on the other hand, mercy is understood in the Biblical sense as functional, then, even though it is called an attribute, it first of all denotes the results of the infinite and eternal love of God in world history, and especially in the history of mankind's salvation. In fact, both hesed (mercy in the Old Testament), as well as eleos (mercy in the New Testament) signify active manifestations of God's love toward mankind. In the Old Testament the manifestations found their expression in the calling and directing of the chosen people, and in the New Testament they were found in the sending of the Son of God into the world and in the entire work of redemption. This Biblically formulated relationship between love and mercy is expressed by [St.] Faustina in the words: 'Love is the flower, mercy the fruit' (Diary, 948).

So, if we understand mercy in the Biblical sense, then without any fear of error contrary to the faith, it can be said that mercy is the greatest attribute of God ... [in other words] within this Biblical understanding, the results of the activity of merciful love are the greatest in the world and in this respect, mercy surpasses all other Divine attributes (Pillars of Fire, p. 96).

Another way to express this insight would be as follows: Divine Mercy is supremely manifest in all of God's actions toward mankind, and to show mercy must be the motive and intention behind all of God's actions in the world.

Drawing upon the biblical words for mercy, and upon the magisterial teachings of Pope John Paul II, therefore, let us try to formulate a clear definition of what we mean by "Divine Mercy."

According to the first epistle of St. John, "God is love" (4:8). He is infinite, eternal, self-giving love within His own being, among the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From all eternity, therefore, within His own infinite essence, He enjoys the fullness of love given, love received, and love returned. He enjoyed that fullness of perfect love before He ever made the world — and even if He had never made any world at all, He still would have enjoyed this perfect beatitude of eternal love, for "God is love."

In the infinite, eternal love that He is, in the inner life of the Blessed Trinity, there is no need for "mercy," for there is no "want" or "misery" or "suffering" that needs to be overcome in the Infinitely Perfect Being. What then is Divine Mercy?

Saint Thomas Aquinas defined mercy in general as "the compassion in our hearts for another person's misery, a compassion which drives us to do what we can to help him" (ST II-II.30.1). Divine Mercy, therefore, is the form that God's eternal love takes when He reaches out to us in the midst of our need and our brokenness. Whatever the nature of our need or our misery might be — sin, guilt, suffering, or death — He is always ready to pour out His merciful, compassionate love for us, to help in time of need:

In fact, God's love for His creatures always takes the form of merciful love. As we read in the Psalms (25:10) "all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth," and again (145:9), "His tender mercies are over all His works."

When He created the world ex nihilo, therefore, and holds it in being at every moment, it is an act of merciful love: His merciful love overcoming the potential nothingness, the possible non-existence of all things.

When the divine Son became incarnate and dwelt among us, that was an act of merciful love too: His merciful love in sharing our lot, showing us the way to the Father, and making the perfect offering for our sins.

When He sends His Holy Spirit into our hearts to refresh and sanctify us, that too is His merciful love: His merciful love pouring into our hearts the power to grow in faith, hope, and love, and to serve him with joy. Psalm 136 says it best. While celebrating all the works of the Lord in creation and redemption, the psalm bears the constant refrain: "for His mercy endures forever" (Robert Stackpole, Jesus, Mercy Incarnate, Marian Press, 2000, p. 112).

Robert Stackpole, STD, is director of the John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy, an apostolate of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. His latest book is Divine Mercy: A Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI (Marian Press). Got a question? E-mail him at questions@thedivinemercy.org.

Pope Francis’ Prayer for Jubilee Year of Mercy

06/05/2015 

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has composed a special prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy which will run from 8 December 2015 to 20 November 2016. In the prayer, the Holy Father entreats the Lord to make the Jubilee of Mercy a year of grace so that the Church, “with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.”

Below, we publish the text of Pope Francis’ prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,

you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,

and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.

Show us your face and we will be saved.

Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;

the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;

made Peter weep after his betrayal,

and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.

Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:

“If you knew the gift of God!”

You are the visible face of the invisible Father,

of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:

let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.

You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness

in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:

let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.

Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,

so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,

and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,

proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,

and restore sight to the blind.  

We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,

you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Amen

A HOMILY IN FRANCIS' FIRST YEAR AS POPE

 Pope Francis, as cardinal of Buenos Aires, Argentina, washes and kisses the feet of residents of a shelter for drug users during Holy Thursday Mass in 2008 at a church in a poor neighborhood of the city. Many Latin American church leaders have expressed appreciation for the perspective Pope Francis has taken to the Vatican. (CNS photo | Enrique Garcia Medina, Reuters) 

The talk was broken into three parts:
It is the time of mercy in the whole church;What does mercy mean for priests;Mercy means neither indulgence nor rigidity.Buried near the end of the third part was one of the pope’s anecdotal gems. Not having read it elsewhere, I decided to share it here.

The story Pope Francis shares is about an elderly priest he knew in Buenos Aires who was known as a great confessor. “Almost all the clergy went to confession to him,” said Pope Francis. The priest passed away and Pope Francis, then vicar general of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, went to his funeral. Pope Francis describes what happened:

“It was a large church, very large, with a most beautiful crypt. I went down to the crypt and there was the coffin, only two elderly women were there praying, but no flowers. I thought: ‘But this man, who has forgiven the sins of the entire clergy of Buenos Aires, also mine, does not have even one flower.’

“I went out and went to a florist shop – because there are flower shops at intersections, on the streets, in places where there are people – and I bought flowers, roses. And I went back and began to arrange the coffin well, with flowers …. And I saw the rosary he had in hand … and immediately there came to my mind  — that thief that we all have inside, no?  — and while I fixed the flowers I took hold of the cross of the rosary, and with some force I detached it.

“And in that moment I looked at him and I said: ‘Give me half of your mercy.’ I felt something strong which gave me the courage to do this and to make this prayer! And then, I put that cross here, in my pocket. The pope’s shirts don’t have pockets, but I always carry here a small cloth case and since that day, up to today, that cross is with me.

“And when I have an evil thought against someone, my hand always comes here, always. And I feel the grace! I feel that it does me good. How much good does the example of a merciful priest, of a priest who comes close to the wounds.  …

“Mercy. Think of the many priests who are in heaven and ask them for this grace! May they give you the mercy that they had with their faithful. And this does one good. Thank you so much for listening and for having come here.”

Yes, just another day at the office for Pope Francis and another lesson learned for the rest of us.