Friday, August 19, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Ecclesial Movements and New Communities
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is, 43:19-21)
Both John Paul II and The Holy Father, Benedict XVI have given blanket approval to
the new Ecclesial Movements. John Paul II stated in his message for the World
Congress of Ecclesial Movement and New Communities, "From the begining of my
Pontificate, I have given special importance to the progress of ecclesial movements...
They represent one of the most significant fruits of that springtime in the Church which
was foretold by the Second Vatican Council...Movements can thus make a valuable
contribution to the vital dynamics of one Church founded on Peter in the various local
situations...I have often had the occasion to stress that there is no conflict or
opposition in the Church between the institutional dimension and the charismatic
dimension, of which movments are a significant expression. both are co-essential
to the divine constitution of the Church founded by Jesus, because they both help to
make the mystery of Christ and his saving work present in the world."
In a book writte by then Cardinal Ratzinger with the journalist, Vittorio essori he writes:
"What sounds full of hope throughout the universal church - and this even in the midst
of the crisis that the Church is going through in the Western World - is the upsurge of
new movements that no one has planned and no one called into being, but that simply
emerge of their own accord from the inner vitality of the faith...It grows in silence.
Our task - the task of the office-holders in the Church and of theologians - is to
keep the door open to them, to prepare room for them..."
"The memory of the previous World Congress of Ecclesial Movements, held in Rome
from 26 to 29 May 1998, is still vivid in my mind and in my heart...during which my
Predecessor expressed his approval of the Ecclesial Movements and New
Communities, which he described as "signs of hope..."
From the Vatican, 22 May 2006 BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
"Today, the Ecclesial Movements and New Communities are a "luminous sign of beauty
of Christ and of the Church, his Bride. You belong to the living structure of the Church.
She thanks you for...the promotion of vocations to the ministerial priesthood and
consecrated life which you nurture among your members."
From the Vatican, 22 May 2006 BENEDICTUS PP XVI
Friday, July 29, 2011
Our Sunday Visitor July 31,1983 from Taking God to the Streets
Below is the article typed out shown above
Our Sunday Visitor July 31, 1983
"The Little Brothers of St. Francis, as they call themselves, represent a new breed of Franciscan Friars who are trying to revive in the 20th Century a way of life that was lived by the little poor man of Assisi almost 800 years ago.
Like other Franciscans they live simply, practice poverty and bring Christ's love to the poor. But, unlike most Franciscans, they are contemplatives who devote themselves to regular monastic prayer and devotion.
This tiny community- at present time there are only two members- is one of perhaps 100 small Franciscan communities that have emerged throughout the world over the past 10 or 15 years.
Although all these communities are different, they have a lot in common. They tend to emphasize contemplative prayer as Francis and his earliest followers did, devoting themselves to being constantly mindful of God.
In an age when many Religious are abandoning the wearing of habits, many of these Franciscans make a point of wearing theirs both in public and in private as a visible sign of their committment to follow Jesus.
They base their way of life on a brief and little known document written by Francis himself as a guide to friars called to contemplative religious life.
According to this document,, known as the "Rule for Hermitages", three or at most four brothers should live and pray together in a manner that is both Franciscan and monastic.
Although the same rule has become the cornerstone of the new Franciscan communities, the communities are not directly affiliated with eachother, and each community has developed its own unique character."
This tiny community- at present time there are only two members- is one of perhaps 100 small Franciscan communities that have emerged throughout the world over the past 10 or 15 years.
Although all these communities are different, they have a lot in common. They tend to emphasize contemplative prayer as Francis and his earliest followers did, devoting themselves to being constantly mindful of God.
In an age when many Religious are abandoning the wearing of habits, many of these Franciscans make a point of wearing theirs both in public and in private as a visible sign of their committment to follow Jesus.
They base their way of life on a brief and little known document written by Francis himself as a guide to friars called to contemplative religious life.
According to this document,, known as the "Rule for Hermitages", three or at most four brothers should live and pray together in a manner that is both Franciscan and monastic.
Although the same rule has become the cornerstone of the new Franciscan communities, the communities are not directly affiliated with eachother, and each community has developed its own unique character."
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The Boston Globe Thursday, November 8, 2001
To read the article with larger print, click on the link below and then click on each page to read:
http://bostonglobearticle.shutterfly.com/pictures/8
Friday, July 22, 2011
Franciscan Eremitical Life Conference
The following documents below can be viewed and read more easily by clicking on the link below and then clicking on each document:
http://franciscaneremiticalconference.shutterfly.com/
http://franciscaneremiticalconference.shutterfly.com/
The following is an excerpt from the above Special Report Vol. 6 No. 7, September 2, 1985, prepared by the Franciscan Communications Office of the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province 135 West 31st New York, N.Y. 10001 (212) 336-8500 ; Cassian A. Miles, O.F.M. editor
__________________________________________________________________________
The Third Franciscan Eremitical Life Conference at the Christian Unity Center of the Atonement Friars in Greymore, Garrison, New York
Noted Cistercian spritual director and author, Fr. Basil Pennington has also been close to the groups. He made an unscheduled appearance to the conference to encourage everyone in their vocation. "Enter daily into the hermitage of your heart," he told them, "to get to know yourselves from God's point of view and to see the dignity that is yours."
Anthony Carrozzo, who directed the St. Francis Retreat Center in Rye Beach for six years, before being elected a Provincial Councillor in January, gave the intial conference presentation.
Rooting his remarks in the teaching of St. Bonaventure, Anthony explained the unique vocation of a hermit in Franciscan tradition. According to this spirit, he pointed out, the eremitical calling is not restricted to the contemplative who abandons the world to seek purgation in the desert.
Instead, he told the conference, the hermit in the Franciscan experience, climbs to the "mountain top' through his contemplative prayer experiences, there to be transfigured by God as Jesus was on Mt. Thabor, he then returns to the world to become a 'wandering hermit', preaching the message he has heard to everyone in the marketplace.
III. THE CONSECRATED LIFE
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (§§918-921) comments on the eremitic life as follows:
counsels publicly, hermits "devote their life to the praise of
God and salvation of the world through a
stricter separation from the world, the silence of
solitude and assiduous prayer and penance".
(Footnote: CIC, can. 603 §1)
918 From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved.
919 Bishops will always strive to discern new gifts of consecrated life granted to the Church by the Holy Spirit; the approval of new forms of consecrated life is reserved to the Apostolic See. (Footnote: Cf. CIC, can. 605).
The Eremitic Life920 Without always professing the three evangelical
counsels publicly, hermits "devote their life to the praise of
God and salvation of the world through a
stricter separation from the world, the silence of
solitude and assiduous prayer and penance".
(Footnote: CIC, can. 603 §1)
921 They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Asceticism and the Interior Life
Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Many ascetical practices have a tendency to bring about interior rest and stillness which is what is missing and sorely lacking in our culture and western societies; the Third Commandment. Keeping Holy the Sabbath is not kept by being busy to keep it Holy. It is kept Holy, so you go into "rest". The Most High has indicated that He is the Abode of Rest; The Living Rest. The Lord spoke to the Israelites after bringing them out of Egypt and said "This generation shall not enter into my 'rest'". They spent 40 years in the desert, and only the generation who was birthed from those, who were taken out of Egypt, were able to enter into the Promised Land.
"Be still and know I AM". It is about doing our part to create the conditions for interior stillness; doing what it takes, to become still and enter into the Sabbath. Just like when you go on vacation and go to the beach. It's a curiosity; busy people full of worries, and tensions, come to a place in nature that is about 50 feet wide, composed of sand, where they lie down... and do nothing. Just because they are lying on the beach, which helps to produce a state of rest, doesn't mean they worship the sun god; for the sun and the sand, the sound of the ocean and the fresh air all help to produce a state of rest. It's all about making the proper distinctions and helping others to learn how to "Be still". Ascetical practices, properly implemented, can produce the conditions for interior stillness and active contemplation.
*(Passive contemplation cannot be induced or produced by any practice or effort, on the part of the disciple.)
Therefore, it is our experience that to Love God and to serve God we must first Know God, and The One Most High shows us the way. The proper implementation of the Third Commandment; Observe the Sabbath and Keep it Holy, is essential to having an authentic spiritual life and it is our understanding that there are many forms of asceticism which can help the disciple of God, to bring about the condition of interior stillness, if understood properly, and effectively applied.
*Given that someone could approach God, even in dark Faith, and make oneself available to God, in time and in dark Faith, does not in any way, guarantee, pre-suppose, anticipate or presume, the initiation, by God Himself, of such individual into passive contemplation. To understand this better would be to refer to the form of prayer described in the fourth Mansion in the treatise of the Interior Castles by St. Theresa of Avila. Descriptions of passive contemplation are put forth and granted in this book. The Fourth Mansion begins with the prayer of quiet, properly so-called. Eventually, this prayer of quiet is often accompianied by, what is referred to as inebriation, where the soul goes into a daze in the experience of God's actual Presence. This experience is part of passive contemplation, whereas in active contemplation, the emotions are aroused by God's Grace. The direct experience of God's Presence; this is what is called the mystical life, and only belongs to Passive contemplation i.e. being in repose. A mystic can fluctuate between the two; active contemplation and passive contemplation. In the mystical state the interior senses are opened and they see, hear, and smell God directly. That's what makes them a mystic. They have a direct experience of God's Presence. These interior senses are mostly blocked because of worldliness.
Asceticism, properly implemented, drains the soul of worldliness, like draining a sponge and squeezing it out, putting wonderful ointments on it and making it clean again. Worldliness, on the other hand, puts barnacles on the soul and so the soul cannot operate as it could... if it were resting in God's Presence, accompanied by nature; nature being our relative and that which we have also a direct relationship with. We experience nature's presence and nature experiences our presence. Nature can "enjoy" and support the human being if the human is respectful to nature.
Many ascetical practices have a tendency to bring about interior rest and stillness which is what is missing and sorely lacking in our culture and western societies; the Third Commandment. Keeping Holy the Sabbath is not kept by being busy to keep it Holy. It is kept Holy, so you go into "rest". The Most High has indicated that He is the Abode of Rest; The Living Rest. The Lord spoke to the Israelites after bringing them out of Egypt and said "This generation shall not enter into my 'rest'". They spent 40 years in the desert, and only the generation who was birthed from those, who were taken out of Egypt, were able to enter into the Promised Land.
"Be still and know I AM". It is about doing our part to create the conditions for interior stillness; doing what it takes, to become still and enter into the Sabbath. Just like when you go on vacation and go to the beach. It's a curiosity; busy people full of worries, and tensions, come to a place in nature that is about 50 feet wide, composed of sand, where they lie down... and do nothing. Just because they are lying on the beach, which helps to produce a state of rest, doesn't mean they worship the sun god; for the sun and the sand, the sound of the ocean and the fresh air all help to produce a state of rest. It's all about making the proper distinctions and helping others to learn how to "Be still". Ascetical practices, properly implemented, can produce the conditions for interior stillness and active contemplation.
*(Passive contemplation cannot be induced or produced by any practice or effort, on the part of the disciple.)
Therefore, it is our experience that to Love God and to serve God we must first Know God, and The One Most High shows us the way. The proper implementation of the Third Commandment; Observe the Sabbath and Keep it Holy, is essential to having an authentic spiritual life and it is our understanding that there are many forms of asceticism which can help the disciple of God, to bring about the condition of interior stillness, if understood properly, and effectively applied.
*Given that someone could approach God, even in dark Faith, and make oneself available to God, in time and in dark Faith, does not in any way, guarantee, pre-suppose, anticipate or presume, the initiation, by God Himself, of such individual into passive contemplation. To understand this better would be to refer to the form of prayer described in the fourth Mansion in the treatise of the Interior Castles by St. Theresa of Avila. Descriptions of passive contemplation are put forth and granted in this book. The Fourth Mansion begins with the prayer of quiet, properly so-called. Eventually, this prayer of quiet is often accompianied by, what is referred to as inebriation, where the soul goes into a daze in the experience of God's actual Presence. This experience is part of passive contemplation, whereas in active contemplation, the emotions are aroused by God's Grace. The direct experience of God's Presence; this is what is called the mystical life, and only belongs to Passive contemplation i.e. being in repose. A mystic can fluctuate between the two; active contemplation and passive contemplation. In the mystical state the interior senses are opened and they see, hear, and smell God directly. That's what makes them a mystic. They have a direct experience of God's Presence. These interior senses are mostly blocked because of worldliness.
Asceticism, properly implemented, drains the soul of worldliness, like draining a sponge and squeezing it out, putting wonderful ointments on it and making it clean again. Worldliness, on the other hand, puts barnacles on the soul and so the soul cannot operate as it could... if it were resting in God's Presence, accompanied by nature; nature being our relative and that which we have also a direct relationship with. We experience nature's presence and nature experiences our presence. Nature can "enjoy" and support the human being if the human is respectful to nature.
"Bringing about the conditions for interior stillness can create the condition for Active contemplation; a mental awareness of welcoming the Presence of God and making oneself available in non-doing for the possibility of, in Faith, recognizing the Presence of God."
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