31 March, Lenten Pilgrimage XXII: Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene
       
WHEN blessed Mary wiped her Saviour’s feet,
(Whose precepts she had trampled on before)
And wore them for a jewel on her head,
    Showing his steps should be the street,
    Wherein she thenceforth evermore
With pensive humbleness would live and tread :

She being stained herself, why did she strive
To make him clean, who could not be defiled?
Why kept she not her tears for her own faults,
    And not his feet? Though we could dive
    In tears like seas, our sins are piled
Deeper than they, in words, and works, and thoughts.

Dear soul, she knew who did vouchsafe and deign
To bear her filth ; and that her sins did dash
Even God himself ; wherefore she was not loath,
    As she had brought wherewith to stain,
    So to bring in wherewith to wash :
And yet in washing one, she washed both.

Holy Week is almost upon us. We will meet Mary Magdalene on Good Friday, beside the Cross as Jesus dies and again, early on Sunday morning, when she comes to the tomb to anoint the body of her Lord and friend. It is Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus who tends to Jesus’ feet in John 12. The other woman, the sinful one, who appears in the other Gospels is not named and is not Mary Magdalene!

But let’s set aside that matter and ask what is going on in this poem. This ‘Mary’ is called ‘blessed’ – she is forgiven, and knows Jesus brought this about. Not that Simon the Pharisee was aware of the change in her; she was still a sinner in his estimation, so a woman to be avoided.

She knew that her sins were deep ‘in words, work and thought’ but she knew well that the Lord had set her relationship with him on the right path. Jesus had already, in earthly time, forgiven her. Now, in washing Jesus’ feet, making them briefly into hair ornaments as she wiped them, she also cleanses herself in a symbolic gesture of repentance, of her changed life, her forgiven life.

And of course, she and Mary of Bethany had the idea of symbolic foot washing before Jesus did it on Maundy Thursday.

Advertisement

30 March: An interesting experience at Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral is welcoming local people and visitors once more. Its website offers a range of attractions and experiences as well as the regular and seasonal services which are the very reason for its existence. We like the look of this library tour; 35 spiral steps will set you up for the calm of the library. There are activities for children during school holidays.

Library Tours

Climb the spiral staircase to see one of the Cathedral’s best loved treasures, the Library, for yourself and explore some of our fascinating collection.

In 2023 we investigate ‘Journeys and Exploration’, a chance to discover how our understanding of the world and local area has changed through the centuries.

Take a journey from Staffordshire around the globe, delve into beautifully illustrated map-books and charts, and uncover insights from James Cook’s voyages.

Each tour lasts around 1. 5 hours

Daytime tours Tours – Starting at 10:30

Saturday 11 March Saturday 22 April Saturday 27 May Saturday 17 June

Saturday 29 July Saturday 12 August Saturday 16 September Saturday 21 October

Candlelit tours – starting at 19:30

Friday 10 March Friday 26 May Friday 16 June

Friday 28 July Friday 11 August Friday 15 September

This atmospheric tour takes place in the evening under LED candlelight. 

Tickets £18

Click here to book

PLEASE NOTE: You must be able to climb 35 spiral steps to take part in this tour.

28 March: Lenten Pilgrimage XXI, Don’t drag it!

Two elderly sisters living out their days together after a life of service. They were both compromised physically, but were still managing to stay in their old home. Like the religious sisters we met yesterday, their Christian vocation did not end with retirement, pooling their capabilities to make sure the household still functioned. Although they could not get to church or the shops any more, they could offer the traditional cup of tea to a visitor, and they could still enjoy a good chat.

On this occasion the visitor was the parish priest, and after their short Communion Service, as he nibbled his ginger nut the conversation turned to the parish finances, which were not very healthy. Father went on at some length and in some detail, a worried man. But there was precious little his audience could do to help him.

At length one of the sisters piped up prophetically: ‘Father dear, stop dragging your cross, pick it up and get on with carrying it!’

Perhaps, like this good priest, we need a chance to let off steam but we also need someone to challenge us to be true to ourselves and the sometimes discouraging duties of our vocation. This Holy Week, let us pray to see our cross, indeed all our problems, in the perspective of the Cross of Jesus.

26 March: Lenten PilgrimageXIX: Our exemplar, challenge, and joy.

This is an extract from a homily given by Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim at a votive Mass to Christ the Eternal High Priest on the final day of a retreat to the clergy of the diocese of Copenhagen. Maribo, Denmark, 16 February 2023.

The Priesthood.

We glory in the Cross! The Christ we know and confess is Christ crucified (cf. 1 Corinthians 2.2), who sacrificed himself — fully human, fully divine — to atone for us and, in death, to destroy our death. What depth of meaning in the statement the Epistle to the Hebrews puts on Christ’s lips: ‘I have come to do your will!’

It points towards a total oblation.

In that oblation you and I find our exemplar, challenge, and joy. Our priesthood is not a job we do; it is the life we live, a life in which everything can come to have a priestly character. We are called to offer sacramental gifts. That is not all, though. We are called to offer ourselves, to the end.

We are not only presbyters and pastors; we are priests, whose function and raison d’être is the offering of Christ’s sacrifice for the saving of the world. Into this great sacrifice we are drawn as participants. We offer it as representatives of Christ whose action is present.

Pope John Paul II lamented what he saw as a lack of the sacrificial element in the celebration of the Mass in his time, but I’ve never worked out what he meant, for the words we use are full of sacrificial imagery. Perhaps the problem is rather a lack of awareness, a lack of consciousness of the daily sacrifices asked of us. Even those extracted from us willy-nilly can be seen through the perspective of Calvary and offered up; but it is not the easiest thing, to glory in the Cross, especially if it is one laid on my shoulders by the circumstances of life. But accepting the Cross through gritted teeth is a step towards being drawn into the great sacrifice of Christ. Do read the whole homily at the link above!

24 March: Lenten Pilgrimage XVIII: Stations of the Cross for the Synod

Pieta, St Thomas of Canterbury, photo MMB

The Stations of the Cross were devised to help Christians walk with Jesus on Good Friday. This set were composed for the synod by Sister Inigo SSA of New Delhi. Her meditations are imagined witness statements from people who were there in Jerusalem, with contemporary insights, especially of the lives of women. With Mary’s great feast coming tomorrow, we turn to Sister’s 13th Station to remind ourselves what her ‘Let it be done to me’ cost her. The link below leads to the full service from the synod website.

What does Good Friday mean to us today? When we look around us, we see families falling apart,
society being plagued by individualism, people being terrorised in the name of religion, social
activists being silenced, freedom of expression being stifled and the cry of the poor and the
marginalised for justice growing louder. The times we live in are pervaded with hopelessness,
uncertainty, depression and panic.

The Holy Father invites the Church to journey on the Synodal path of communion, participation
and mission identifying itself with the lost and the least, by attentively listening to their cries, just
as Jesus walks to Calvary carrying His cross. Let us walk with Him in this Way of the Cross, adding
our own brokenness to Christ’s suffering and to bring healing to the wounded humanity

THE THIRTEENTH STATION: My beloved son on my lap!
We adore you ……….
He was a notorious young boy. On the day, he came out of the jail on bail, he was fully drunk and
was jaywalking in the middle of the road. A truck hit him and he died on the spot. A large
number of people, who saw his mangled body, heaved a sigh of relief. From amidst the crowd, a
lady with torn clothes was running to the spot. She lifted the body of her son onto her lap and
started wailing and weeping loudly calling him “my son, my son!”. How many times would he
have pushed her to the ground and left her to bleed! Yet…see the affection of the mother! A
mother is love personified. She is like the hen fighting an eagle that tries to snatch her chicks!

When the body of Jesus was laid on the lap of Mother Mary what could have been her feelings?
Were they joyful tears because her son lived and died for a noble cause? Or, were they sorrowful
tears because her son was cruelly killed by people, who misunderstood and wrongly
misinterpreted His teachings? We may never know. We learn from the Scriptures that Mother
Mary became the first disciple of Jesus’ Movement and she became the leader of Jesus’
missionary band! And so, Mother Mary is the perfect model to all the mothers today.

On our Synodal journey, like Mother Mary, we need to ponder over everything in our hearts and
get ready to ‘do whatever he tells us’. Let us place all our Synodal deliberations, hopes and plans
in those very hands in which the broken body of Jesus was placed.

We Pray: Dear Jesus, the formation of our children is in our hands. Whether they will be the
disciplined citizens or derelicts depends upon their formation. Help us to form our children
based on your exemplary life, into spiritual beings having human experiences, Amen!

Click to access STATIONS_OF_THE_CROSS_2023.pdf

Sr. Inigo SSA
Dwarka, New Delhi

22 March, Lenten Pilgrimage XVI: lead us to the fullness of life

Once again we gladly share some wise reflections from Canon Anthony Charlton, parish priest of Saint Thomas, Canterbury. Thank you Father Anthony! Something to think about on our Lenten Pilgrimage.

At the end of his teaching on the beatitudes, Raniero Cantalamessa OFM CAP says, “The best way to take the Gospel beatitudes seriously is to use them as a mirror for an examination of conscience that is truly ‘evangelical’”.

Here are some questions that can help;

Is my deepest desire for God or for passing things that only bring temporary comfort?
Do I depend on good feelings, or do I accept that doing God’s will sometimes involves the acceptance of enormous pain?
Am I seduced by power, or am I prepared to allow God’s power to reign in me?
Do I strive for holiness, or am I, at times, satisfied with mediocrity and lukewarmness?
When a brother, a sister, or a co-worker demonstrates a fault, do I react with judgement or mercy?
Are my intentions pure? Do I say yes and no as Jesus did? The clearest opposite of purity of heart is hypocrisy. Whom do I seek to please by my actions: God or other people?
Am I addicted to the approval of others?
Am I a peacemaker? Do I bring peace to different sides? How do I behave when there are conflicts of opinion or conflicts of interest?
Is the peace of God in my heart, and if not, why not?
Am I ready to suffer in silence for the gospel? How do I react when facing a wrong or an injury I received?

When we read or listen to the Beatitudes, we have a portrait of Jesus himself. He gives us these beatitudes as a way of true happiness that will lead us to the fullness of life.

21 March: Lenten Pilgrimage XV, The Two Saints Way

A mediaeval pilgrimage route between Chester and Lichfield

Lichfield and Chester Cathedrals are on a pilgrimage route from Ireland to Canterbury and beyond, a route being brought back into use after centuries of neglect. The symbol above has the Lichfield Cross with one of Saint Werburgh’s geese flying upwards. We include this extract from the Lichfield cathedral website for its discussion of why people set out on pilgrimage.

Follow in the footsteps of Pilgrims who, in the Middle Ages, travelled the 92-mile route between the cathedral cities of Chester and Lichfield. Some of those pilgrims would have been Irish since Chester was the main port for those in the northern half of the island, so the favoured route to Canterbury, or even to Rome or Jerusalem, would have included visiting the shrines of St Werburgh at Chester, St Wulfad in Stone and St Chad here in Lichfield.

Mediaeval pilgrims set off in search of healing, forgiveness or courage to face life’s difficulties and some were looking for adventure. These days people take pilgrimage walks for many reasons; a break from the demands of everyday life, with time to think and reflect. Some people are motivated by faith and others walk to practise mindfulness. Whatever the motivation, all walkers of the Way and indeed anyone can benefit from the experience of pilgrimage – a route through countryside, towns and the cathedral cities of Chesthire and Staffordshire along the route.

I guess more than one of these reasons for making a pilgrimage fit me; how about you?

Learn more about this mediaeval route of Pilgrimage: https://www.twosaintsway.co.uk

20 March: Feast of Saint Joseph, man of silence.

Holy Family Window, Catholic Church, Saddleworth

The Feast of Saint Joseph is translated from yesterday, Sunday 19 March. This post is from Pope Francis’s general audience of Wednesday, 15 December 2021

______________________________

 Saint Joseph, man of silence

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Let us continue our journey of reflection on Saint Joseph. After illustrating the environment in which he lived, his role in salvation history and his being just and the spouse of Mary, today I would like to consider another important personal aspect: silence. Very often nowadays we need silence. Silence is important. I am struck by a verse from the Book of Wisdom that was read with Christmas in mind, which says: “While gentle silence enveloped all things, your all-powerful word leaped from heaven”.  [In] the moment of greatest silence, God manifested himself. It is important to think about silence in this age in which it does not seem to have much value.

The Gospels do not contain a single word uttered by Joseph of Nazareth: nothing, he never spoke. This does not mean that he was taciturn, no: there is a deeper reason. With his silence, Joseph confirms what Saint Augustine writes: “To the extent that the  Word  —  the Word made man —  grows in us,  words diminish”.  To the extent that Jesus, — the spiritual life — grows, words diminish. What we can describe as “parroting”, speaking like parrots, continually, diminishes a little. John the Baptist himself, who is “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’” (  Matthew 3:3), says in relation to the Word, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (  John 3:30). This means that he must speak and I must be silent, and with his silence, Joseph invites us to leave room for the Presence of the Word made flesh, for Jesus.

Joseph’s silence is not mutism; it is a silence full of  listening , an  industrious  silence, a silence that brings out his great interiority. “The Father spoke a word, and it was his Son”, comments Saint John of the Cross,  — “and it always speaks in eternal silence, and in silence it must be heard by the soul”. 

Jesus was raised in this “school”, in the house of Nazareth, with the daily example of Mary and Joseph. And it is not surprising that he himself sought spaces of silence in his days (cf. Mt 14:23) and invited his disciples to have such an experience by example: “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while” (Mk 6:31).

How good it would be if each one of us, following the example of Saint Joseph, were able to recover this  contemplative dimension of life, opened wide in silence. But we all know from experience that it is not easy: silence frightens us a little, because it asks us to delve into ourselves and to confront the part of us that is most true. And many people are afraid of silence, they have to speak, and speak, and speak, or listen to radio or television… but they cannot accept silence because they are afraid. The philosopher Pascal observed that “all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber”. 

19 March: Lenten Pilgrimage XIV: the way, the truth and the life

Tomas Halik was ordained secretly when the Church was being persecuted in Czechoslovakia, and is still in active ministry as a university teacher. He was asked to give the opening address to the European Continental Assembly in Prague, his home city. This is an extract, the whole speech can be found here.

At the beginning of their history, when Christians were asked what was new about their practice, whether it was a new religion or a new philosophy, they answered: it is the way. It is the way of following the one who said: I am the Way. Christians have constantly returned to this vision throughout history, especially in times of crisis…

[The Synod] is a short portion of a long journey. This small but important fragment of the historical experience of European Christianity must be placed in a wider context, in the colourful mosaic of the global Christianity of the future. We have to say clearly and comprehensibly what European Christianity today wants and can do to respond to the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of our whole planet – this planet which is interconnected today in many ways and at the same time is divided and globally threatened in many ways. We are meeting in a country with a dramatic religious history.

This includes the beginnings of the Reformation in the 14th century, the religious wars in the 15th and 17th centuries and the severe persecution of the Church in the 20th century. In the jails and concentration camps of Hitlerism and Stalinism, Christians learned practical ecumenism and dialogue with nonbelievers, solidarity, sharing, poverty, the “science of the cross.” This country has undergone three waves of secularisation as a result of socio-cultural changes: a “soft secularisation” in the rapid transition from an agrarian to an industrial society; a hard violent secularization under the communist regime; and another “soft secularisation” in the transition from a totalitarian society to a fragile pluralistic democracy in the post-modern era. It is precisely the transformations, crises and trials that challenge us to find new paths and opportunities for a deeper understanding of what is essential. Pope Benedict, on a visit to this country, first expressed the idea that the Church should, like the Temple of Jerusalem, form a “courtyard of the Gentiles”.

We believe and confess that the Church is a mystery, a sacrament, a sign (signum) – a sign of the unity of all humanity in Christ. The Church is a dynamic sacrament, it is a way to that goal. Total unification is an eschatological goal that can only be fully realized at the end of history. Only then will the Church be completely and perfectly one, holy, catholic and apostolic. Only then will we see and mirror God fully, just as He is.

Christianity was the way in the beginning, and it is to be the way now and forever. So it was in the beginning, so it must be now and forever. The Church as a communion of pilgrims is a living organism, which means always to be open, transforming and evolving. Synodality, a common journey (syn hodos), means a constant openness to the Spirit of God, through whom the risen, living Christ lives and works in the Church. The synod is an opportunity to listen together to what the Spirit is saying to the churches today.

The photograph shows one of the demonstrations in Wenceslas Square in Prague that led to the overturning of Communist rule in what was then Czechoslovakia.

18 March: Lenten Pilgrimage XIII, In the same boat.

A few weeks ago I heard a bishop’s letter describing how people have not returned to Mass since the end of the pandemic. We can all think of reasons why this should be, but should I stay or should I go? Despite all, I stay, even if my feelings of exasperation are not infrequent. But read on; there are good reasons to stay on board.

The other day a friend shared these words from a song by Robert Lebel which keeps her steadfast in her mission as a hospital chaplain in these troubled times: ‘How many they are, the blessed, the ones no-one ever talks about … how many they are, these nobodies, these blessed everyday people.’

Yes, there are many women and men who help us to believe that Christ has not abandoned his Church. Let us not leave them to fall by giving in to the temptation to abandon ship during the storm. To do that would be to abandon the poor as well.

Dominique Greiner, Croire-La Croix, 12 November 2022

You can find the text of the song in French, and a YouTube recording here.

Image from Saint David’s Cathedral.

Faith is never about myself alone, but about those around us:

Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Matthew 25:44