Novena to St. Peter Julian Eymard and miscellania

Today begins the novena to St. Peter Julian Eymard, the apostle of the Eucharist and founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. This particular order has been such a blessing to me for many years. One of my dearest and  most beloved friends, my long-time confessor and spiritual director, Fr. J.T. Lane belongs to this congregation, as does my first confessor, the late and dearly remembered Fr. Maurice Prefontaine. My life has also been very blessed by Frs. Dana Pelotte and Mike Arkins, as well as Bro. David. I am so sad that the Congregation's St. Ann's province no longer has a presence in the western U.S., especially here in Salt Lake City where they are still very beloved and missed.

St. Peter Julian's feast day is 2 August. So, the annual novena to him commences today and finishes Monday, 1 August. So, if you have a specific need or intention, whether it's personal, or for someone else, please join in praying this novena, asking St. Peter Julian to intercede for your need. Bring whatever, whether for discernment, health (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual), a job, school, whatever. During these nine days, visit the Blessed Sacrament as often as you can, especially if doing so results in you making some personal sacrifice. Also consider closing the novena by going to confession during this time and assisting at Mass on 2 August.

Novena prayer, prayed daily for nine days:

Saint Peter Julian, who listened with such loving response to the voice of Jesus, help us also to listen and hear Him as He calls us to serve Him each in our own vocation. Help us especially during this Novena when we turn with our petitions to your powerful intercession.

(intentions… mention in the quietness of your own heart).

Lord Jesus Christ, through Your grace, St. Peter Julian understood the Eucharist to be Your Gift of Self to the world. May our prayers lead us to an ardent love of the Eucharist so that, like St. Peter Julian, we may shine in the world with the Radiance of Your Presence, a radiance that will silently say:

Jesus is there- let us go to Him!

St. Peter Julian, Apostle of the Eucharist, pray for us.

Day 1, 24 July:

O Sacrament most Holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.
Our Lady of the most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.
St. Peter Julian, pray for us.

Peter Julian Eymard was born on 4 February 1811 in La Mure d’Isere near Grenoble in the French Alps, and was baptised there the following day. The younger of only two surviving children of his parents, Madeleine and Julien, he showed a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament from his earliest years. As a small child, he took on the task of ringing a bell through the streets of La Mure to announce that Mass time was near. This was indeed prophetic as his whole life would eventually be dedicated to proclaiming Jesus’ Eucharistic Presence in the world and encouraging devotion to Him.

AND YOU LITTLE CHILD, YOU SHALL BE CALLED PROPHET OF GOD THE MOST HIGH FOR YOU WILL GO BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE THE WAY FOR HIM. TO GIVE TO THE PEOPLE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION… (Luke 1:76-77).

St Peter Julian,
We pray that through your intercession and inspired by your example, people may be drawn to honour and join Jesus in the Eucharistic celebration, and that those who have drifted away may once again find fullness of joy in His Presence.

St. Peter Julian, pray for us.

See Blessed Sacrament novena webpage.

Miscellania

I visited a suburban Barnes and Noble because you can very often find really great books in the remainder bins of these stores. I picked up A Roland Barthes Reader, complied by the late Susan Sontag. This contains several Barthes' works I have not previously read. The real gem I unearthed was a copy of James L. Kugel's How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture Then and Now. Kugel is an Orthodox Jew and world renown biblical scholar who now lives and teaches in Jerusalem. Dr. Kugel has a remarkable website, which will appear in my sidebar. I also acquired a very inexpensive copy of John Leland's Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think). Finally, I bought A Daybook of Prayer: Meditations, Scriptures, and Prayers to Draw Near to the Heart of God, which is a wonderful anthology. When I will have the leisure to read them remains unknown.

"in the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines..."

Dropkick Murphys Worker's Song is our pre-May Day, pre-Feast of St. Joseph the Worker traditio. It is dedicated to the executives at Goldman Sachs and all those who don't "get" the common good. "By the common good is meant the sum total of those conditions of social life which allow people as groups and as individuals to reach their proper fulfillment" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 407).

St. Joseph the Worker, pray for us. Dorothy Day, pray for us. César Chávez, pray for us. Madeleine Delbrêl, pray for us.

'The Turn to Transcendence'

Dr Glenn Olsen, a brilliant man whom I consider a friend and something of a mentor over many years, has written another book. His latest is entitled The Turn to the Transcendence: The Role of Religion in the Twenty-First Century. Catholic University Press is publishing this book, which will available in early June.

I spoke with Dr. Olsen last evening and Turn to Transcendence will be a Cathedral Book Club selection come this fall with Dr. Olsen leading the discussions. This is something not only to look forward to, but to be excited about.

Among his other published books is Beginning at Jerusalem: Five Reflections on Church History. Which consists of five very good essays, which began life as annual lectures he delivered in New York City. This collection was published in 2004 by Ignatius Press. It contains some fine lines about the angels in our lovely Cathedral of the Madeleine (link is to 3D viewer of the Cathedral). Referring to what St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about angels, Dr. Olsen observes:

"This is the best statement of why angels exist. God wishes to share his goodness and gifts. One may hope that others follow the lead of Msgr. Francis Mannion in preserving angels in the restoration of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in which I worship in Salt Lake City. The restored cathedral is full of angels. Especially striking... are eight great angels painted on the ceiling at the transcept crossing above the altar. It is difficult to worship in this church without being reminded of the company of the angels, that God has been much more prolific in his dealing with the universe than early modern science suggested...Every person who enters the cathedral in Salt Lake City is reminded of such a perspective, and this church stands as an alternative to our current impoverishment in matters liturgucal and architectural."

Dr. Olsen, who is an emeritus professor at the University of Utah, my alma mater. He is an internationally known and respected historian whose particular area of study is medieval intellectual history, but he has published in area of patristics, as well as the history of law, and history of sexuality. In addition to teaching at Utah, he has taught at Seattle University, and Fordham University. He has been a visiting professor at St. John's University, Collegeville, MN, the University of Notre Dame, Vilnius University (Lithuania) and Franciscan University in Austria.

I am always hesitant to mention people who have generously taken the time to help shape and form me for fear that it will somehow make them complicit in the on-going internet crime against human sense and sensibility that is this blog. Nonetheless, this post affords me the opportunity to mention how fortunate I was in the mid-90s to work at the Cathedral of the Madeleine and to associate with people like Drs. Olsen and Lindsay Adams, the latter of whom taught me ancient history at the U, particularly the history of Greece and of Rome. I can tell you from experience that it is a daunting thing to mount the ambo during Mass and commence preaching to two of your very distinguished professors! Msgr. M. Francis Mannion, who is largely responsible for me being a deacon, having made the mistake of telling me one day as we were processing into Mass (I was the Cathedral MC then) "I think you'd make a good deacon," was my boss and the one who facilitated my association with these fine men. Additionally, Deacon Owen Cummings and Gregory Glenn have been very indulgent towards me over quite a few years. Without exception, all these people have only ever encouraged me in the most positive ways. I consider it a great privilege to know each of them. This goes some distance towards explaining why I am so excited by Dr. Olsen's latest book.

Even if you're prone to judge a book by its cover, the cover of The Turn to Transcendence features El Greco's painting of St. John.

Christos Anesti

Some exciting stuff

As stated in my blog header, my purpose for blogging at all "is to foster Christian discipleship in the late modern milieu in the diakonia of koinonia." I really do think that as a deacon, as a parish director of religious education, and as a Christian that being present and active on-line in this day is not optional, it is necessary. The Holy Father apparently agrees, as he encouraged priests during this year of the priest to be present on-line and, yes, to blog! Maybe he assumed that, like St. Stephen, who was supposed to be serving at table while the apostles preached, that deacons were already up and engaged on-line! I don't know!

In addition to revamping the look of Καθολικός διάκονος, I have also been at work revivifying our parish RCIA blog, which went on-line a few years ago, Vivre l'Evangile, which means "to live the Gospel" in French. Why, French, you ask? Because my parish, The Cathedral of the Madeleine, is a fracophone way of being The Cathedral of the Magdalene. It also has a connection to he work of the great French philosopher, Jacques Maritain.

This revamping is timely as we have been transitioning to the full implementation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in our parish, moving to a year 'round process that includes a pre-catechumenate, year-long catechumenate, and period of mystagogia after initiation. Our next group of catechumens, for whom we will celebrate the Rite of Acceptance on a Sunday of Easter, will be members of our first year-long catechumenate. This requires a revamping of our catechumenate program. I cannot tell you how excited I am that we will be using Ascend: The Catholic Faith for a New Generation as our text, our point of reference. Needless to say, I was excited this morning to find this video on the Ascend blog, The Catholic Story:

I find this video very inspiring, but not as inspiring as I am finding reading the book, which I am working through a chapter a day during Lent. As I told one of the authors, Deacon Eric Stoltz, who I am privileged to call a friend: "God always surprises me during Lent. Yesterday, I just picked up your book and started to read. It is what I needed. I don't know why, other than it just reassured me of a lot of things, mostly of God's love and the way God works in the world and in my life." Another dear friend, Fran, informs me, via a comment, that she reviewed Ascend for her diocesan newspaper (i.e., the Diocese of Albany, New York), The Evangelist.

I am also excited about using the St. John's University (Collegeville, MN) Seeing the Word lectio divina for our Sunday dismissals, beginning in the fall. Dismissals constitute our catechumens' direct engagement with sacred Scripture during their catechumenate and their period of enlightenment and purification. Through the good efforts of the Director of our diocesan Office of Liturgy, Timothy Johnston, the Cathedral is one 30 parishes nationwide piloting this program during Lent.

Those preparing to be fully incorporated into Christ's Body, the Church, at the Great Easter Vigil this year, participated in the Rite of Election/Call to Continuing Conversion this past weekend. This is always a joyus event for our local church. So, by the grace of God, Lent is proving to be a fruitful time, a springtime, a time when life bursts forth, not despite our Lenten discipline and austerity, but precisely because of it!

Meum cum sim pulvis et cinis

Postette vs. post

I appears that predictions about the promulgation of the Holy Father's encyclical were wrong. As for me, I have more than enough to keep me occupied for awhile. Things are progressing nicely here at the Institute. I have a lot of work once I get back. Given the hectic pace of my life, I am more ambivalent about it now than before. Nonetheless, I am determined. I think my ambivalence arises more from my uncertainty about having anything to really say in order to add to the discussion.

I long to ago admitted to being an ambivalent blogger. Through this experience I have learned that ambivalence really is more about being conflicted. Given that the issue becomes whether the conflict can be constructive. The name we often give to constructive conflict is dialectical tension. As the late Mark Searle once wrote: "tension creates energy". I am kind of counting on it.

A program note

June is here. Easter is over. We begin ordinary time today. These next few months I will reduce posting quite a bit due to the sheer number of things I have to do. There will be nothing like the daily posts I have been able to write up to now. However, I will post regularly. It remains to be seen how frequently.

As to the murder of Dr. Tiller, the Kansas abortion doctor who was killed over the weekend while ushering at his Lutheran parish, it should be self-evident to anyone with a developed moral sense that this is a gravely immoral and wrong act. I do not want to provide any grist for the media mill that will grind from this senseless act food to feed the media beast, attempting to show how all people who are pro-life are extremists.

The reading for Morning Prayer today, Monday of Week I of the psalter, is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians, in which he exhorts them that they/we must "not grow weary in doing good" (2 Thess. 3:13). This day after Pentecost we know that we need to the Holy Spirit to keep us fresh and committed to doing what is right out of love of God and neighbor. Love is what keeps doing what is good and avoiding what is evil from becoming a white-knuckle experience.

What am I doing?

Being busy is the characteristic of Easter for me, more so than any other time of the year. We are getting close to the Pentecost confirmation and First Communion of our parish young people, who receive both sacraments at age 8. There are those 11-14, who we group together, who will receive these sacraments along with them. Then there are our 14-16 year-olds, who are preparing for confirmation, who will be confirmed by Bishop Wester, along with a third group of full-fledged adults who, for various reasons, were never confirmed, on the vigil of Pentecost. I have primary responsibility for the 14-16 year-olds and the adults and I teach a series of Sunday classes for the parents of all the young people.

RCIA is just coming to a conclusion for this year, too. Then there are my weekly baptismal preparation classes for parents of infants and small children. I am glad that School of Community is on Wednesday, it is my mid-week sustenance. In the midst of all this I did manage to complete a five-page paper, which I started on the weekend, last evening. I still have to finish my works cited page. I have nine sources for five pages!

I can tell you that two people make all this possible, my lovely wife, who supports me and loves me, and the Blessed Mother, who intercedes on my behalf and for those I mentioned above and for whom I pray fervently everyday, lifting them up to her. Without either one of these sources of strength, I would be sunk. Instead, I feel good, energetic, excited. Once next week is over, I have a lot of time at home before trotting off to Winona for my last year of courses. Remarkably, I have been able to get my yard in shape, too! Of course, it is great having a son who just turned 15 and who had been quite helpful. Bottom line: I am blessed and I am grateful.

Veni Sancti Spiritus, veni per Mariam.

Penance brings forth beauty

I love Bono's shout out to Michael Hutchence (the guest guitarist from the audience is wearing an INXS t-shirt), who was a dear friend of his. In fact, Stuck In A Moment off the All That You Can't Leave Behind album is a tribute to Hutchence. Friday is good time to face reality squarely, to take stock of our lives, our foibles, our sins. Besides, most of us have lost friends and loved ones along the way. To see in Christ crucified the perfect and infinite love God has for each one of us. Even with all our wounds and scars, we are beautiful to God- more beautiful for all that. I am personally convinced that the Son was never more beautiful to the Father than when he was hanging on the cross.

It goes to show that Bono, being possessed of the requisite Celtic spirit, can make up lyrics like a mad man and that being able to play Knockin' is a prerequisite to being in a true rock n' roll band.

Veni Sancti Spiritus, veni per Mariam.

Active elsewhere

I have been posting frequently over on our parish blog, The People of St. Mary Magdalene. Just this morning I have posted two new items:

Two years in the Areopagus and

You will bear a son

Like a lot of people this year, I have been posting the O Antiphons. The ones I have been posting are the ICEL translations found in the English Liturgy of the Hours.

Thanks once again to my dear brother Alex for being attentive and pointing me to the new Flash movie on the CL website.

"The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary..." So, as we prepare to usher in the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we pray

Veni Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam

Don't miss Deacon Greg's Homily for December 21, 2008: Fourth Sunday of Advent.