Clementissime...

Day Two of the retreat of the Bishops of New England.  Today we spoke about three more words from the Roman Canon: Vere (reflecting on preaching the truth to a skeptical world), Sanctus (on how to help people to be holier by making priests more holy) and Clementissime.

The last word comes from the opening line of the Roman Canon: To you, most merciful Father... What is this great mercy which comes from God and which we are called to show to one another? Here's an excerpt from this afternoon's conference:

It is a merciful love, patient enough to delay its wrath for the sake of a handful of just men.  A love which is kind and true, which makes the beloved stronger for the loving and which raises the dead from the grave, and showers mercy on the one who forgives others.

It is a mercy which is total, complete, abundant and beyond all measure.  It gives every time I ask, opens the door every time I knock, and provides for everything I need.

And its infectious.  

It rouses us from our beds in the middle of the night when we know someone needs a loaf of bread.  

It causes women and men to leave the world behind and seek only God’s will in a life of poverty, prayer, and the kind of joyful obedience that smiles when God calls you to pack it all up and move from Baltimore to Springfield, or Newark to Fall River!

It causes young seminarians to renounce fame and fortune and freedom to answer God’s call to serve his Church in the person of her Savior.  To pursue a life whose goal is to decrease that Christ might increase, and to so die to self that he might become like the Good Pastor, who lays down his very life for his sheep.

It causes Husbands and Wives to work second shifts to feed their kids, addicted hearts to abstain for one more day, Catholic Workers to cook a meal for fifty strangers on a hot summer night, Knights of Columbus to work their fingers to the bone to fix up the Church,  Food Pantry volunteers to unload heavy cases from the van, Outreach workers to listen patiently to the old lady who’s confused, CCD teachers to sit up late writing lesson plans, choristers to practice over and over, and penitents to cry in that box as they entrust their sins to God.

It makes us who we strive to be, and most miraculously of all, it even teaches us to remember the name of the lady who washes our floors just outside the door.

Te igitur...

This evening I begin preaching the retreat for the Bishops of New England….a humbling task!  Please pray for me! Over the course of the next several days I will offer reflections on twelve words from the Roman Canon.  Tonight we start with Te, as in Te igitur clementissime Pater…  After describing the Baptismal renunciation and profession of faith in Saint Ambrose’s Milan, I offered this little reflection:

…what direction we’re facing in, and where we’re going is the best indicator of who we are and what we believe.

We Catholics have a word for it: it’s metanoia: a radical turning toward God and away from all the dark shadows that tempt us to look away.  And this metanoia, this radical turning to God, is precisely what the Roman Canon is calling us to in its opening words.  Te igitur Clemntissime Pater: Turning away from the world and all of its distractions, I turn to Christ! Turning away from my worries and fears and pains, I turn to Christ! Turning away from selfishness and sin, I turn to Christ!Te igitur…

Saint John Paul described it as “a daily, repeated, constant, sustained turning to God…”  And Pope Benedict, when reminded us that “True revolution consists in simply turning to God who is the measure of what is right and who at the same time is everlasting love. [For] what could ever save us apart from love?”

The Church’s Official hymns of rejoicing, Te deum laudamus, which an ancient legend ascribes to Saint Ambrose on the occasion of the baptism of a certain Augustine, reminds us of the spitting and the metanoia in 387 AD.  There are other less interesting attributions in recent years, but none of them are as much fun as this one.

And while it ends with a series of petitionary psalms, tied together with the phrase Salvum fac populum tuum, it begins with an extended and some might say hysteric effort at repeated orientation toward God: Te Deum laudamus, Te aeternum Patrem, Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus, Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus, etc.

It is interesting that this hymn arises at roughly the same time as the Roman Canon.  But even more interesting for us is what it is trying to do.

It is trying to grab us by the shoulders and turn us away from all that distracts us and make us look into the face of God: Te, igitur Clementissime Pater.

The Week Before...

Boxes are being packed all around New England as seminarians prepare to return home to this Holy House  in just about a week's time.  We are preparing to welcome a record-breaking twenty-seven new men!  Pray for them!

These days the activity begins to pick up after a nice quiet summer...a few more seminarians are roaming the halls...In the last few days one was leading music at "Jesus in the North End," while another was bringing a new found friend from Omaha to his first Red Sox game and a third was serving (and reading and organizing) the Solemn Liturgy for the Assumption (more on that to come).  And at least three of the men were unloading cars, trying to get a head start on next week's move-in.

We're also looking forward to welcoming back Bishop Michael Barber, who will be preaching our opening retreat.  So much to look forward to!

I am off today to preach the Retreat for the Bishop's of New England at Ender's Island in Connecticut.  I return on Thursday to an extended Faculty Meeting and on Friday the Faculty heads out to Tanglewood for our last evening of R and R before Orientation for the New Men begins on Saturday.

Please keep us all in your prayers, as you, dear reader, are daily in ours!

Changes at the end of summer…

I am grateful to Sister Jeanne Gribaudo, CSJ, who has served as a valued faculty member of the Theological Institute and as an advisor to me on a variety of concerns, including our thriving development program.  Sister Jeanne has been asked to take a position as pastoral associate at St. Agatha Parish in Milton and will be teaching at Merrimack College in the Fall. She will be dearly missed and goes forth with the prayers and best wishes of the entire Saint John’s Seminary community.

Installation of Bishop Rozanski

Yesterday I was privileged to attend the installation of Bishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski as Bishop of Springfield. In the course of his homily, Bishop Rozanski shared the following reflections: "From my first days here in June when Bishop McDonnell took me on a tour of this area and on my subsequent visits here, I have been awestruck at the beauty of the surroundings. This diocese is nurtured by waters. With the massive Quabbin Reservoir to our east, the Housatonic River and the lovely lakes of the Berkshires to the west to the splendor of the Connecticut river running through the heart of these counties, it is no wonder that the seal of our diocese portrays four images of flowing water.

The very word “spring” conjures up images of fresh and pure lifegiving water. (Perhaps I may have another description of this scenery in February when the waters change into sleet and freezing rain!)

For Christians, water represents the new life that is given to us in baptism. The flowing waters poured upon us along with the Trinitarian formula welcome us into God’s family, the Church. Today’s celebration not only recalls the day of baptism for us, but is a sure reminder that in being welcomed into the Church, we become members of the family of God, united in faith with one another, under the care of the Good Shepherd.

What splendid imagery Ezekiel gives to us of God as our shepherd! He speaks of the ways in which the shepherd reaches out to bring back the sheep, not merely standing by passively and watching them from afar, but actively going to seek them and lead them back to the place of good pastures, where clear waters will give them life. It is God’s dream for His people, who at that time experienced the pain of exile, to give encouragement and hope to them. Pope Francis reminds us in the Joy of the Gospel, that we are all called to follow the example of the Shepherd, reaching out to those who for any reason have become alienated from God and the Church and welcoming them by our compassion, joy and witness to the love of God at work in our world.

As your bishop, I am keenly aware of the need to reach out to those who have stopped practicing our Faith for any reason, those who may have been hurt in any way, to bring them back to the rich pasture that is our Church. In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus himself spoke the parable of the lost sheep to illustrate for us our Father’s love and the need to reach out to bring everyone home. The lush landscape and waters of the diocese of Springfield serve as a metaphor for the pastures of Faith in which Jesus calls us to abide."

Congratulations and prayers for many Blessed Years in Springfield from the entire Saint John's Seminary community!

A prayer from Rome...

I'm just finishing up three days of meetings in Rome, where the temperature edges toward 90 F. every day.  I set aside this afternoon to pray for our newly arriving seminarians, who must be feeling much as my classmates and I did in August of 1976.

As I sit here in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of Saint Peter's, I think of their anxieties and fears as they embark on this new endeavor to hear God's voice and follow his will.  I think of their goodness in being open to receiving his grace, and I pray that the Lord will draw them daily ever closer to himself.  I think of their families and friends and the myriad of emotions they must be experiencing, and ask God to reward them for shepherding these men to this moment.

But most of all, I praise and thank the Lord before whom I pray, for raising up good men in every generation to bless his name, to offer his sacrifice and to lead us to heaven.  Please join me in praying for them as they prepare to embark on this wondrous new journey!

SJS in China!

In the course of their travels through China, Fr. Eric Bennett, Msgr. John McLaughlin and Fr. Chris O’Connor gather here with Fr. Joseph Li Rector, of Hebei Seminary.  Father Lei was ordained from Saint John’s Seminary in 1997.