Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum

Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Homily Pronounced at the Funeral Mass of
Mother Jeanne-Françoise de l’Assomption,
née Jeanne–Marie Eugénie Fournier,
of the Congregation of the Benedictines of Jesus Crucified
on the Feast of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal,
Saturday, 12 August 2017
in the Collegial Church of Notre–Dame–de–Liesse in Annecy

Ninety–four years ago, in this magnificent collegial church of Notre–Dame–de–Liesse, little Jeanne–Marie Eugénie Fournier was carried to the baptismal font to be plunged into the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A few years later, little Jeannette received her First Holy Communion in this same church. Today, on the liturgical feast of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, Mother Jeanne–Françoise de l’Assomption is welcomed in the very same place where she began her long life of love, of suffering, and of offering.

And, again, sixty–five years ago, she, whom most of you call Tante Jeannette, gave herself to Jesus crucified, saying to him, Suscipe me, Domine, that is, “Take me to thyself, O Lord; take me with thee on the Cross; unite me to thy sacrifice to the Father; make of me

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Pope Benedict XVI on Saint Tarcisius, Martyr

Wednesday, 16 August 2017

In our proper Benedictine calendar, today is the feast of Saint Tarcisius, martyr of the Most Holy Eucharist. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of Saint Tarcisius on the occasion of the great European pilgrimage for altar servers that took place on 4 August 2010.

Who was St Tarcisius? We do not have much information about him. We are dealing with the early centuries of the Church’s history or, to be more precise, with the third century. It is said that he was a boy who came regularly to the Catacombs of St Calixtus here in Rome and took his special Christian duties very seriously. He had great love for the Eucharist and various hints lead us to conclude that he was presumably an acolyte, that is, an altar server. Those were years in which the Emperor Valerian was harshly persecuting Christians who were forced to meet secretly in private houses or, at times, also in the Catacombs, to hear the word of God, to pray and to celebrate Holy Mass. Even the custom of taking the Eucharist to prisoners and the sick became

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Blessing of Herbs and Flowers

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

Assumption3.jpgChristians of both East and West have, from very early times, blessed herbs and fruit on the Feast of the Assumption. Thus blessed, these creatures become sacramentals of the Church and portents of divine protection from dangers to soul and body. In some places the herbs were placed on the altar, and even beneath the altar linens, so that from this proximity to the Most Holy Eucharist they might receive a special hallowing, beyond that conferred by the blessing prayers of the Church.

The prayers of the rite suggest that this custom of the Church hearkens back to the ancient customs ordained by God through Moses. According to Christian tradition, when the Apostles accompanied Saint Thomas, who had been absent at the time of the Blessed Virgin’s death, to her tomb, upon opening it they discovered that her body was not there. Instead, they found the tomb filled with fragrant herbs and flowers. Blessed herbs recall the lingering fragrance of the virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church.

Blessing of Herbs and Flowers in Honour of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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An Assumption Homily

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

dormitio_giotto1.jpgAssumpta Est Maria
Assumpta est Maria in caelum, gaudent angeli, laudantes benedicunt Dominum! Mary has been taken up into heaven; the angels rejoice and, praising, bless the Lord! The Virgin in whose womb reposed the Author of Life is preserved from the corruption of the tomb. The Mother of God is assumed body and soul into the splendour of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Escorted by myriads of angels in jubilation, the Queen of Heaven advances toward her Son, who sits enthroned amid the stars.

Even Within the Veil
In a sense, the Assumption of the Mother of God is the liturgy of her Great Entrance; the feast of her oblation in the heavenly sanctuary, “the tabernacle, which the Lord hath pitched, and not man” (Heb 8:2). She is the Mother of Holy Hope. She is given to us to be our strongest comfort, to be the anchor of our souls, “sure and firm, and which entereth in even within the veil” (Heb 6:18-19).

Our Lady’s Pascha
Today heaven and earth keep the summer festival of Marymas, Ladyday-in-the-Harvest, the

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Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

1015multiplierofwheaticon.jpgI preached this homily several years ago. Allow me to share it with you again. Last year at this time, three of our number had just completed a pilgrimage to the Mother of God of Czestochowa, praying for vocations. This year, at the same date, we count six novices. The icon is wonderfully suitable  for Marymass or Lady-Day-in-Harvest?

The Pascha of Summer
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pascha of summer, signals the beginning of the final phase of the liturgical year. The Church enters into the splendours of her harvest time. With the feasts of late summer and autumn, the Church turns the shimmering pages of the book of the Apocalypse and draws us into their mystery. “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, writes the Apostle, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near” (Ap 1:3).

The Transfiguration and the Cross
On August 6th, precisely forty days before the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we celebrated the Transfiguration of the Lord, a mystery of

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Situated amidst pasture land and forest in the eastern reaches of County Meath, Silverstream Priory was founded in 2012 at the invitation of the Most Reverend Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath, and canonically erected as an autonomous monastery of diocesan right on 25 February 2017. The property belonged, from the early 15th century, to the Preston family, premier Viscounts of Ireland and Lords of Gormanston. In 1843 Thomas Preston (1817-1903), son of Jenico Preston, the 12th Viscount (1775-1860), built what today is Silverstream Priory.

Silverstream Priory is a providential realisation of the cherished project of Abbot Celestino Maria Colombo, O.S.B. (1874–1935), who, following the impetus given by Catherine–Mectilde de Bar in the 17th century, sought to establish a house of Benedictine monks committed to ceaseless prayer before the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar in a spirit of reparation. The community of Silverstream Priory holding to the use of Latin and Gregorian Chant, celebrate the Divine Office in its traditional Benedictine form and Holy Mass in the “Usus Antiquior” of the Roman Rite. Praying and working in the enclosure of the monastery, the monks of Silverstream keep at heart the sanctification of priests labouring in the vineyard of the Lord. They undertake various works compatible with their monastic vocation, notably the development of the land and gardens, hospitality to the clergy in need of a spiritual respite, scholarly work, and publishing.

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