What is the “Roman Canon”? Fr. Milton Walsh helps us to answer that question and enter deeply into the mystery found in this beautiful Eucharistic prayer. Drawing from the best of biblical and liturgical scholarship, Fr. Walsh offers a beautiful meditation that can help priests, religious, and laity deepen their understanding of the text that for centuries was the only Eucharistic prayer used in the Roman Rite. This is a great book to give those in Catholic Adult Formation programs, like the RCIA, Diaconate training, Religious Education Catechist, as well as to the average “pew person” who longs for a deeper encounter in the depths of our Sacred Liturgy.
With a revised English translation of the venerable Roman Canon, many Catholics will be hearing it with new ears. This book will help them hear it with a new heart. Don’t just study the new words, step into the soul of Eucharistic Prayer I. —Rev. Paul Turner, Former president of the North American Academy of Liturgy
Jesus’ prayer during the Last Supper was the theme of Benedict XVI’s catechesis during his general audience, which was held this morning in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of 4,000 faithful.
The Pope explained how the emotional backdrop to the Last Supper, in which Jesus bade farewell to His friends, was the immanence of His approaching death. Moreover, in the days in which He was preparing to leave His disciples, the life of the Jewish people was marked by the approaching Passover, the commemoration of the liberation of Israel from Egypt.”It was in this context that the Last Supper took place”, the Holy Father said, “but with an important novelty”. Jesus “wanted the Supper with His disciples to be something special, different from other gatherings. It was His Supper, in which He gave something completely new: Himself. Thus Jesus celebrated the Passover as an anticipation of His Cross and Resurrection”.
The essence of the Last Supper lay in “the gestures of breaking and distributing the bread, and sharing the cup of wine, with the words that accompanied them and the context of prayer in which they took place. This was the institution of the Eucharist: the great prayer of Jesus and the Church”. The words the Evangelists use to describe that moment “recall the Jewish ‘berakha’; that is, the great prayer of thanksgiving and blessing which, in the tradition of Israel, is used to inaugurate important ceremonies. … That prayer of praise and thanks rises up to God and returns as a blessing. … The words of the institution of the Eucharist were pronounced in this context of prayer. The praise and thanksgiving of the ‘berakha’ became blessing and transformed the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus”.
Jesus’ gestures were the traditional gestures of hospitality which a host would extend to his guests, but in the Last Supper they acquired a more profound significance, Pope Benedict explained. Christ provided “a visible sign of welcome to the table upon which God gives Himself. In the bread and the wine, Jesus offered and communicated His own Self”. Aware of His approaching death, “He offered in advance the life that would shortly be taken from Him, thus transforming His violent death into a free act of the giving of Self, for others and to others. The violence He suffered became an active, free and redemptive sacrifice”.
“In contemplating Jesus’ words and gestures that night, we can clearly see that it was in His intimate and constant relationship with the Father that He accomplished the gesture of leaving to His followers, and to all of us, the Sacrament of love”, said the Pope. During the Last Supper Jesus also prayed for His disciples, who likewise had to suffer harsh trials. With that prayer “He supported them in their weakness, their difficulty in understanding that the way of God had to pass through the Paschal mystery of death and resurrection, which was anticipated in the offer of bread and wine. The Eucharist is the food of pilgrims, a source of strength also for those who are tired, weary and disoriented”.
Benedict XVI went on: “By participating in the Eucharist we have an extraordinary experience of the prayer which Jesus made, and continues to make for us all, that the evil we encounter in our lives may not triumph, and that the transforming power of Christ’s death and resurrection may act within each of us. In the Eucharist the Church responds to Jesus’ command to ‘do this in remembrance of me’, she repeats the prayer of thanksgiving and blessing and, therewith, the words of transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord. Our Eucharistic celebrations draw us into that moment of prayer, uniting us ever and anew to the prayer of Jesus”.
“Let us ask the Lord that, after due preparation also with the Sacrament of Penance, our participation in the Eucharist, which is indispensable for Christian life, may always remain the apex of all our prayers”, the Pope concluded. “Let us ask that, profoundly united in His offering to the Father, we too can transform our crosses into a free and responsible sacrifice of love, for God and for our fellows”.
At the end of his catechesis the Holy Father delivered greetings in a number of languages to the pilgrims present in the Paul VI Hall, inviting them to participate with
“faith and devotion” in the Eucharist which, he said, is indispensable for Christian life as well as being the school and culmination of prayer. Addressing young people, the sick and newlyweds, he pointed our that last Sunday’s Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord is an occasion to reflect upon our own Baptism. “
Dear young people”, the Pope exclaimed, “live your membership of the Church, the family of Christ, joyfully. Dear sick people, may the grace of Baptism ease your sufferings and encourage you to offer them to Christ for the salvation of humanity. And you, dear newlyweds, … base your marriage on the faith which you received as a gift on the day of your Baptism”.
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“Do not try to have your trials taken away from you, rather, ask for the grace to endure them well”.
Pope Benedict XVI at St. Andre’s caniozation –
“Brother André Bessette, born in Quebec, in Canada, and a religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, knew suffering and poverty very early in life. This led him to turn to God for prayer and an intense interior life. Doorman at the Notre Dame College in Montreal, he showed boundless charity and did everything possible to soothe the despair of those who confided in him. With little instruction, he nevertheless understood what was essential to his faith. For him, to believe meant to submit freely and lovingly to Divine Will. Everything existed through the mystery of Jesus, he lived the beatitude of the pure of heart, that of personal rectitude. It is thanks to this simplicity, he showed many God. He had the Saint Joseph Oratory of Mont Royal built, where he was the faithful guardian until his death in 1937. There, he was the witness of many healings and conversions. “Do not try to have your trials taken away from you”, he said, “rather, ask for the grace to endure them well”. For him, everything spoke of God and His presence. May we, following his example, search for God with simplicity to discover Him always present in the core of our lives! May the example of Brother André inspire Canadian Christian life!”
Growing up, I feared that my life might be meaningless. In fact, it was the search for a truth and a love that could give my life eternal meaning that led me into the arms of Jesus and of the Church. Eventually, on March 29, 2010, I became a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross – the same religious family of Brother André Bessette.One of the main lessons I have drawn from my saintly brother is that no life is meaningless in God. There were countless reasons why Brother André’s life should have ended up meaningless, and yet here we are celebrating his canonization. His life is the powerful story of how our crosses can be borne as a gift and transformed into our hope for true meaning and life. I invite you to join me in praying with this hero of our faith so that our lives, like his, might take on an eternal, life-giving meaning.
1. The Cross of Low Expectations
Brother André, the expectations for you couldn’t have been lower. They baptized you the day after your birth because they did not think you would survive. Later on, your physical frailty and lack of education made others expect so little of you, leaving for you only the more menial tasks like tending the door. Yet you fulfilled these simple tasks with such great love, exceeding the expectations of everyone. Intercede for us so that God may grant us the same courage to overcome our world’s paltry expectations of us. May we achieve the true greatness of holiness for which God lovingly created us.
2. The Cross of Wandering
Brother André, you knew what it was like to wander through this life. While still young, you were orphaned and forced from your home. For many years, you journeyed from town to town and job to job, even leaving your homeland for the textile mills in the United States, in search of a new home. You only found your home in this life when Divine Providence led you to your vocation to the religious life in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Intercede for us that we may allow God to guide us towards the vocation to which we are called. May we, too, find our homes in this life.
3. The Cross of Rejection
Brother André, you knew what it was like to be rejected. Your own religious family of Holy Cross did not accept you at first. You yourself said, “When I first arrived to the college, I was shown the door … and I remained there for forty years!” Yet even more painfully, when the Lord chose you to be His healing hand in others’ lives, you incurred the misunderstanding and rejection of those who failed to see God’s greatness through you. Intercede for us, so that we may have the same strength in the face of ridicule. May we remain steadfast to the mission God has entrusted to us to bring Him glory.
4. The Cross of Others’ Suffering
Brother André, you truly knew the weight of others’ suffering. As news of the healings spread, more and more people came to you, often expecting a miraculous cure. Their burdens became your burdens; their crosses became your crosses. Your ministry exacted its toll on you, draining your strength and patience and even bringing you to tears. You revealed to those suffering the hope of the Cross of Christ, the hope of the God who is always with us in our need. Intercede for us so that we may be able to enter into others’ sufferings and bear their crosses with them. May we unleash the healing hope of the Crucified One.
5. The Cross of Setbacks
Brother André, even the works God accomplished through your life did not come without their setbacks. At many times during the construction of the Oratory dedicated to your patron St. Joseph, it seemed that the ambitious project would never be completed. Yet you continued to place your trust in Divine Providence. You even had a statue of St. Joseph placed under the unfinished roof so he could raise the remaining funds. And defying all predictions, St. Joseph did just that! Intercede for us so that we may have the same faith in Providence. May the setbacks of our life not distract us from fulfilling God’s will.
6. The Cross of Our Own Suffering
Brother André, from your birth and throughout your life, your health was frail. Rarely did you eat more than bread dipped in watered-down milk or soup. You knew physical suffering and its seeming meaninglessness that afflicted the many broken and ill people who came to you. But in God, your weakness became your strength, letting you enter more deeply into the hurts and pains of others. You journeyed in faith with them through the Cross to new life in Christ. Intercede for us so that we may be able to transform our weaknesses into strengths. May our sufferings be transformed into a redemptive balm in the lives of others.
7. The Cross of Death
Brother André, like all of us since our ancestors Adam and Eve, you had to bear the ultimate cross of death. But death was not the end of your life or your life’s story. Battling the cold, over a million people came from far and wide to pay their last respects. Your funeral was just the preview of the millions who continue to visit the Oratory each year, as well as the many ministries to the poor and the sick that bear your name throughout the world. Intercede for us so that we, too, may have life in God and produce an even greater harvest for God’s people. May we, too, lay down our lives in such a way that we can be counted among the saints.
The many variations “assisted” reproduction technologies, which should truly been termed “artificial”. Why is the distinction important? What are the dangers morally, as well as physically? And why has infertility increased over the years?
“Your Fertility Care Consult”
with Dr. Thomas Hilgers, founder of the Pope Paul VI Institute
for The Study of Human Reproduction
hosted by Kris McGregor
The Pope Paul VI Institute, founded in 1985 by Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, is internationally recognized for its outstanding achievements in the field of natural fertility regulation and reproductive medicine — 30 years of scientific research and educational program development; allied health professional education programs for couples and professionals; professional, caring, and morally acceptable patient services. The Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction is building a culture of life in women’s health care through its major developments — Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology.
You’ve heard how the Pilgrims fled religious persecution in England, but have you ever heard how Catholics were persecuted there?
Recent scholarship such as Eamon Duffy’s book The Stripping of the Altars show that the vast majority of the English people did not freely choose to leave the Catholic Church, but were coerced into it. In fact, prior to King Henry VIII’s break with Rome, England was known throughout Europe as “Mary’s Dowry” because of its great piety. But under King Henry, Queen Elizabeth I, and others, failure to outwardly conform to the new state religion resulted in fines or imprisonment. Hiding a Catholic priest was considered a treasonable act punishable by death. Many suffered dearly, including famous martyrs like Sir Thomas More, or the 40 English martyrs that Pope John Paul II canonized.
Those openly professing Catholicism were barred from important positions in government and society well into the 1800s, and English law to this day prohibits a monarch from being Catholic.
Convincing evidence also shows that William Shakespeare was one such underground Catholic and that his plays included veiled appeals to the Queen for religious toleration.
So let us thank God that we can freely and openly practice our Faith, and honor all those who could not.
VATICAN CITY, 28 DEC 2011 (VIS) – Prayer in the Holy Family of Nazareth was the theme of Benedict XVI’s catechesis during today’s general audience, which was held in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of 7,000 pilgrims.
“The house of Nazareth”, the Pope explained, “is a school of prayer where we learn to listen, to meditate, to penetrate the deepest meaning of the manifestation of the Son of God, drawing our example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus”.
“Mary is the peerless model for the contemplation of Christ”, he said. She “lived with her eyes on Christ and treasured His every word. … Luke the Evangelist makes Mary’s heart known to us, her faith, her hope, her obedience, her interior life and prayer, her free adherence to Christ. All of these came from the gift of the Holy Spirit, which descended upon her just as it descended upon the Apostles according to Christ’s promise. This image of Mary makes her a model for all believers”.
Mary’s capacity to live by the gaze of God is “contagious”, the Holy Father went on. “The first to experience this was St. Joseph. … With Mary, and later with Jesus, he began a new rapport with God, he began to accept Him into his life, to enter into His plan of salvation, to do His will”.
Although the Gospel has not preserved any of Joseph’s words, “his is a silent but faithful presence, constant and active. … Joseph fulfilled his paternal role in all aspects”. In this context, the Pope explained how Joseph had educated Jesus to pray, taking Him to the synagogue on Saturdays and guiding domestic prayer in the morning and evening. “Thus, in the rhythm of the days spent in Nazareth, between Joseph’s humble dwelling and his workshop, Jesus learned to alternate pray and work, also offering up to God the fatigue by which they earned the bread the family needed”.
Benedict XVI then turned his attention to the pilgrimage of Mary, Joseph and Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, as narrated in the Gospel of St. Luke. “The Jewish family, like the Christian family, prays in the intimacy of the home, but it also prays together in the community recognising itself as part of the pilgrim People of God”, he said.
Jesus’ first words – “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house” – pronounced when Mary and Joseph found Him sitting among the teachers in the Temple, are a key to understanding Christian prayer. “From that moment, the life of the Holy Family became even richer in prayer, because the profound significance of the relationship with God the Father began to spread from the Heart of the boy (then adolescent, then young man) Jesus to the hearts of Mary and Joseph. The Family of Nazareth was the first model of the Church in which, in the presence of Jesus and thanks to His mediation, a filial rapport with God came to transform even interpersonal relations”.
“The Holy Family”, Benedict XVI concluded, “is an icon of the domestic Church, which is called to pray together. The family is the first school of prayer where, from their infancy, children learn to perceive God thanks to the teaching and example of their parents. An authentically Christian education cannot neglect the experience of prayer. If we do not learn to pray in the family, it will be difficult to fill this gap later. I would, then, like to invite people to rediscover the beauty of praying together as a family, following the school of the Holy Family of Nazareth”.
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A strong man who wavered for a moment, but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil and so became a strong churchman, a martyr and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.
His career had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II. When Henry felt it advantageous to make his chancellor the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair warning: he might not accept all of Henry’s intrusions into Church affairs. Nevertheless, he was made archbishop (1162), resigned his chancellorship and reformed his whole way of life!
Troubles began. Henry insisted upon usurping Church rights. At one time, supposing some conciliatory action possible, Thomas came close to compromise. He momentarily approved the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have denied the clergy the right of trial by a Church court and prevented them from making direct appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the Constitutions, fled to France for safety and remained in exile for seven years. When he returned to England, he suspected it would mean certain death. Because Thomas refused to remit censures he had placed upon bishops favored by the king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, taking his words as his wish, slew Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral.
For a greater telling of this saint’s life – EWTN Library
Note: T. S. Eliot wrote a play — “Murder in the Cathedral” — about his life, and a movie — “Becket” (1964) — starring Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton has been made, too
Prayer for St. Thomas a Becket
Taken from the Roman Missal.
O God, for the sake of whose Church the glorious Bishop Thomas fell by the sword of ungodly men: grant, we beseech Thee, that all who implore his aid, may obtain the good fruit of his petition. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
Msgr. Esseff not only laments the horror of the massacre of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, but the tragedy of the continued holocaust of children within their mother’s womb that occurs today. He reflects on the passage from Revelation which recounts the hatred the devil has for the womb of the woman: The enemy HATES life. Msgr. Esseff reminds us of the VICTORY of Christ and discusses the forgiveness and hope found with God. He shares the stories of two seperate women named Maria, both of whom touched his life and who can help show us the way.
“The Feast of the Holy Innocents reminds us that shortly after the coming of Hope into the world, in the form of God as a new-born child, the fallen World has its own sickening and brutal response.
Some of the tragic news we hear each day echoes the inhuman tragedy of the massacre of the innocents. We witness the same kind of brutality that Herod unleashed on the innocent children of Judea every day in a myriad of unspeakable actions: murder, abortion, war, exploitation, slavery and countless other types of violence and oppression, much of which is against innocent children.
Herod’s actions are not only echoed in the extreme examples of evil cited above. In the actions of secularists, materialists and atheists, who seek to emulate Herod in their attempts to eradicate God from the world in favour of their own interests and agendas, we see various social effects manifesting that, in one way or another, enable a whole plethora of great and small evils to stir in men’s hearts.”– Traditio et Virtus
We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents Of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
meditation that can help priests, religious, and laity deepen their understanding of the text that for centuries was the only Eucharistic prayer used in the Roman Rite. This is a great book to give those in Catholic Adult Formation programs, like the RCIA, Diaconate training, Religious Education Catechist, as well as to the average “pew person” who longs for a deeper encounter in the depths of our Sacred Liturgy.
