The Paradox of the Resurrection

This essay from Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson seems presciently apt for this current chastisement. We are given this brief period of introspection to strengthen us for what is coming very quickly. Do not be caught unprepared, please use this time to gather your family, strengthen them spiritually and live your consecrations as never before.Be prepared for this great spiritual battle.

 .  . 

“. . . On Easter Day look at Him again and see how He lives as never before. See how the Life that has been His for thirty years – the Life of God made Man – itself pales almost to a phantom before the glory of that same Life transfigured by Death. Three days ago He fainted beneath the scourge and nails; now He shows the very scars of His Passion to be the emblems of immortal strength. Three days ago He spoke in human words to those only that were near Him, and limited Himself under human terms of space and time; He speaks now in every heart. Three days ago He gave His Body to the few who knelt at His Table; to-day in ten thousand tabernacles that same Body may be worshipped by all who come. Continue reading “The Paradox of the Resurrection”

The Seven Last Words, Parts VI & VII

Continuing the Lenten Sermon of Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson, Parts VI & VII

THE SIXTH WORD

“It is consummated.”

He has finished His “Father’s business,” He has dealt with sinners and saints, and has finally disclosed to us the secrets of the Soul and the Body of His that are the hope of both sinners and saints alike. And there is no more for Him to do.

An entirely new Beginning, then, is at hand, now that the Last Sabbath is come — the Last Sabbath, so much greater than the First as Redemption is greater than Creation. For Creation is a mere introduction to the Book of Life; it is the arrangement of materials that are to be thrown instantly into confusion again by man, who should be its crown and master. The Old Testament is one medley of mistakes and fragments and broken promises and violated treaties, to reach its climax in the capital Mistake of Calvary, when men indeed “knew not what they did.” And even God Himself in the New Testament, as man in the Old, has gone down in the catastrophe and hangs here mutilated and broken. Real life, then, is now to begin.

Yet, strangely enough, He calls it an End rather than a Beginning. Consummatum est!”

I. The one and only thing in human life that God desires to end is Sin. There is not a pure joy or a sweet human relationship or a selfless ambition or a divine hope which He does not desire to continue and to be crowned and transfigured beyond all ambition and all hope. On the contrary, He desires only to end that one single thing which ruins relationships and spoils joy and poisons aspirations. For up to the present there is not one page of history which has not this blot upon it. Continue reading “The Seven Last Words, Parts VI & VII”

The Seven Last Words, Parts IV and V

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?

Continuing Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s Lenten sermon, “The Seven Last Words”, Parts IV & V. This is such a beautiful and necessary post! It’s sad that so few people will see it here. Please share.

In the following essay,  Msgr. Benson teaches us about “leaving God to find God”, that is, when all spiritual consolation is withdrawn from us, and then when “the very reasons for faithfulness appear to vanish”. If you are not aware, even in the slightest, of this state, you still need to read this, and save it, for it will become clear. Msgr. does not speak of the third degree of that state of desolation because to attempt to use words is to betray it.

THE FOURTH WORD

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

Our Blessed Lord in the revelation He makes from the Cross passes gradually inwards to Himself Who is its centre. He begins in the outermost circle of all, with the ignorant sinners. He next deals with the one sinner who ceased to be ignorant, and next with those who were always nearest to Himself, and now at last He reveals the deepest secret of all. This is the central Word of the Seven in every sense. There is no need to draw attention to the Paradox it expresses. Continue reading “The Seven Last Words, Parts IV and V”

The Seven Last Words, Part III

posted on : March 30, 2021  by : evensong

Continuing from Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s Lenten Sermon on the Seven Last Words of Christ Our Lord, Part III, from “Paradoxes of Catholicism”.

THE THIRD WORD

“Woman, behold thy son. Behold thy mother”

Our Divine Lord now turns, from the soul who at one bound has sprung into the front rank, to those two souls who have never left it, and supremely to that Mother on whose soul sin has never yet breathed, on whose breast Incarnate God had rested as inviolate and secure as on the Bosom of the Eternal Father, that Mother who was His Heaven on earth. Standing beside her is the one human being who is least unworthy to be there, now that Joseph has passed to his reward and John the Baptist has gone to join the Prophets — “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, who had lain on the breast of Jesus as Jesus had lain on the breast of Mary.

Our Lord has just shown how He deals with His dear sinners; now He shows how He will “be glorified with His Saints”. The Paradox of this Word is that Death, the divider of those who are separated from God, is the bond of union between those that are united to Him.

I. Death is the one inexorable enemy of human society as constituted apart from God. A king dies and his kingdom is at once in danger of disruption. A child dies and his mother prays that she may bear another, lest his father and she should drift apart. Death is the supreme sower of discord and disunion then, in the natural order, since he is the one supreme enemy of natural life. He is the noonday terror of the Rich Fool of the parable and the nightmare of the Poor Fool, since those who place their hope in this life see that death is the end of their hope. For these there is no appeal beyond the grave.

II. Now precisely the opposite of all this is true in the supernatural order, since the gate of death, viewed from the supernatural side, is an entrance and not an ending, a beginning and not a close. This may be seen to be so even in a united human family in this world, the members of whom are living the supernatural life; for where such a family is living in the love of God, Death, when he comes, draws not only the survivors closer together, but even those whom he seems to have separated. He does not bring consternation and terror and disunion, but he awakens hope and tenderness, he smooths away old differences, he explains old misunderstandings.

Our Blessed Lord has already, over the grave of Lazarus, hinted that this shall be so, so soon as He has consecrated death by His own dying. “He that believeth in Me shall never die.”  He, that is to say, who has “died with Christ”, whose centre henceforward is in the supernatural, simply no longer finds death to be what nature finds it. It no longer makes for division but for union; it no longer imperils or ends life and interest and possession, but releases them from risk and mortality.

Here, then, He deliberately and explicitly acts upon this truth.

He once raised Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus and the Widow’s Son from the dead, for death’s sting could, at that time, be drawn in no other way; but now that He Himself is tasting death for every man, He performs an even more emphatically supernatural act and conquers death by submitting to it instead of by commanding it. Life had already united, so far as mortal life can unite, those two souls who loved Him and one another so well. These two, since they knew Him so perfectly knew each the other too as perfectly as knowledge and sympathy can unite souls in this life. But now the whole is to be raised a stage higher. They had already been united on the living breast of Jesus; now, over His dead body, they were to be made yet more one.

It is marvelous that, after so long, our imaginations should still be so tormented and oppressed by the thought of death; that we should still be so without understanding that we think it morbid to be in love with death, for it is far more morbid to be in fear of it. It is not that our reason or our faith are at fault; it is only that that most active and untamable faculty of ours, which we call imagination, has not yet assimilated the truth, accepted by both our faith and our reason, that for those who are in the friendship of God death is simply not that at all which it is to others. It does not, as has been said, end our lives or our interests: on the contrary it liberates and fulfils them.

The Communion of Saints

And all this it does because Jesus Christ has Himself plunged into the heart of Death and put out his fires. Henceforth we are one family in Him if we do His will, (we are) His brother and sister and mother; and Mary is our Mother, not by nature, which is accidental, but by super-nature, which is essential. Mary is my Mother and John is my brother, since, if I have died with Christ, it is “no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me”. In a word, it is the Communion of Saints which He inaugurates by this utterance and seals by His dying. “Woman, behold thy son. Behold thy mother.

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.

  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
  St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.
†  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

The Seven Last Words, Part II

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
previously posted on : March 29, 2021  by : evensong
Continuing Monsignor Benson’s “Seven Last Words”.

THE SECOND WORD

Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.

Our Divine Lord, in this Second Word, immediately applies and illustrates the First and drives its lesson home. He shows us how the rain of mercy that poured out of heaven in answer to the prayer He made just now enlightens the man who, above all others present on Calvary, was the most abjectly ignorant of all; the man who, himself at the very heart of the tragedy, understood it less, probably, than the smallest child on the outskirts of the crowd.

His life had been one long defiance of the laws of both God and man. He had been a member of one of those troops of human vermin that crawl round Jerusalem, raiding solitary houses, attacking solitary travellers, guilty of sins at once the bloodiest and the meanest, comparable only to the French apaches of our own day. Well, he had been gripped at last by the Roman machine, caught in some sordid adventure, and here, resentful and furious and contemptuous, full of bravado and terror, he snarled like a polecat at every human face he saw, snarled and spat at the Divine Face Itself that looked at him from a cross that was like his own; and, since he had not even a spark of the honour that is reputed to exist among thieves, taunted his fellow criminal for the folly of His crime.

“If thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us.”

Again, then, the Paradox is plain enough. Surely an educated priest, or a timid disciple, or a good-hearted dutiful soldier who hated the work he was at, surely one of these will be the first object of Christ’s pardon; and so one of these would have been, if one of ourselves had hung there. But when God forgives, He forgives the most ignorant first – that is, the most remote from forgiveness – and makes, not Peter or Caiphas or the Centurion, but Dismas the thief, the first fruits of Redemption.

I. The first effect of the Divine Mercy is Enlightenment. “Before they call, I will answer.”  Before the thief feels the first pang of sorrow Grace is at work on him, and for the first time in his dreary life he begins to understand. And an extraordinary illumination shines in his soul. For no expert penitent after years of spirituality, no sorrowful saint, could have prayed more perfectly than this outcast. His intellect, perhaps, took in little or nothing of the great forces that were active about him and within him; he knew, perhaps, explicitly little or nothing of Who this was that hung beside him; yet his soul’s intuition pierces to the very heart of the mystery and expresses itself in a prayer that combines at once a perfect love, an exquisite humility, an entire confidence, a resolute hope, a clear-sighted faith, and an unutterable patience; his soul blossoms all in a moment: “Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy Kingdom.”  He saw the glory behind the shame, the Eternal Throne behind the Cross, and the future behind the present; and he asked only to be remembered  when the glory should transfigure the shame and the Cross be transformed into the Throne; for he understood what that remembrance would mean: Remember, Lord, that I suffered at Thy side.”

II. So perfect, then, are the dispositions formed in him by grace that at one bound the last is first.  Not even Mary and John shall have the instant reward that shall be his; for them there are other gifts, and the first are those of separation and exile. For the moment, then, this man steps into the foremost place and they who have hung side by side on Calvary shall walk side by side to meet those waiting souls beyond the veil who will run so eagerly to welcome themThis day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.”

The Last Shall Be First

III. Now this Paradox, “the last shall be first”, is an old doctrine of Christ, so startling and bewildering that He has been forced to repeat it again and again. He taught it in at least four parables: in the “parables of the Lost Piece of Silver, the Lost Sheep, the Prodigal Son, and the Vineyard.. The Nine Pieces lie neglected on the table, the Ninety-nine sheep are exiled in the Fold, the Elder Son is, he thinks, overlooked and slighted, and the Labourers complain of favouritism. Yet still, even after all this teaching, the complaint goes up from Christians that God is too loving to be quite just. A convert, perhaps, comes into the Church in middle age and in a few months develops the graces of Saint Teresa and becomes one of her daughters. A careless black-guard is condemned to death for murder and three weeks later dies upon the scaffold the death of a saint, at the very head of the line. And the complaints seem natural enough. “Thou hast made them equal unto us who have borne the burden and heat of the day”.

Yet look again, you Elder Sons. Have your religious, careful, timid lives ever exhibited anything resembling that depth of self-abjection to which the Younger Son has attained? Certainly you have been virtuous and conscientious; after all, it would be a shame if you had not been so, considering the wealth of grace you have always enjoyed. But have you ever even striven seriously after the one single moral quality which Christ holds up in His own character as the point of imitation: “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart”.

It is surely significant that He does not say, expressly, Learn of Me to be pure, or courageous, or fervent; but “Learn to be humble”, for in this, above all, you shall find rest to your souls”.  Instead, have you not had a kind of gentle pride in your religion or your virtue or your fastidiousness? In a word, you have not been as excellent an Elder Son as your brother has been a Younger. You have not corresponded with your graces as he has corresponded with his. You have never yet been capable of sufficient lowliness to come home (which is so much harder than to remain there), or of sufficient humility to begin for the first time to work with all your heart only an hour before sunset.

Begin, then, at the beginning, not half-way up the line. Go down to the church door and beat your breast and say not, God reward me who have done so much for Him, but “God be merciful to me, who have done so little.” 

Get off your seat amongst the Pharisees and go down on your knees and weep behind Christ’s couch, if perhaps He may at last say to you, “Friend, come up higher.” (end of quote)

Dear readers, I’ve scheduled a follow-up post each day, and several extra ones, too up through Easter Sunday. After that, I am not sure whether or not I will continue. Thank you all who are reading this for your support. Yes, I do hope we can keep in touch. I value your friendship and have benefited greatly from the insights your thoughts when you’ve corresponded with me.

Thank you for reading. I pray for you always.

Pray the Rosary in reparation – so many souls depend on it.

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
  St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.
  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

Of endings and beginnings

posted on : october 28, 2020 posted by : evensong

Today I offer you a post which at first will seem a strange choice for the end of the liturgical year, for this post has as its subject the Resurrection. It was originally posted this past Easter-time. But we who have lived a very long time are aware that each end is a beginning and so the cycle continues. I have been reading “The Last Mass of Padre Pio” and would like to write on that wonderful book. But as I am not able,  Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson’s great essay will provide a commentary. For each Mass is a Passion, Death and Resurrection.

† . † . †

The Paradox of the Resurrection

The following began as a new post for the Feast of the Resurrection, but I saved it for now so we can think on it and consider it in relation to this current chastisement. We are given this brief period of introspection to strengthen us for what is coming very quickly. Do not be caught unprepared, please use this time to gather your family, strengthen them spiritually and live your consecrations as never before. I tell you, be prepared for this great spiritual battle.

† . † . †

“. . . On Easter Day look at Him again and see how He lives as never before. See how the Life that has been His for thirty years – the Life of God made Man – itself pales almost to a phantom before the glory of that same Life transfigured by Death. Three days ago He fainted beneath the scourge and nails; now He shows the very scars of His Passion to be the emblems of immortal strength. Three days ago He spoke in human words to those only that were near Him, and limited Himself under human terms of space and time; He speaks now in every heart. Three days ago He gave His Body to the few who knelt at His Table; to-day in ten thousand tabernacles that same Body may be worshipped by all who come.

In a word, He has exchanged a Natural Life for a Supernatural in every plane at once. He has laid down the Natural Life of His Body to take it back again supernaturalized for ever. He has died that His Life may be released; He has finished in order to begin.

It is easy, then, to see why it is that the Church dies daily, why it is that she is content to be stripped of all that makes her life effective, why she too permits her hands to be bound and her feet fettered and her beauty marred and her voice silenced so far as men can do those things.

She is human? Yes; she dwells in a body that is prepared for her, but prepared chiefly that she may suffer in it. Her far-reaching hands are not hers merely that she may bind up with them the broken-hearted, nor her swift feet hers merely that she may run on them to succour the perishing, nor her head and heart hers merely that she may ponder and love.

But all this sensitive human organism is hers that at last she may agonize in it, bleed from it from a thousand wounds, be lifted up in it to draw all men to her cross.

She does not desire, then, in this world, the throne of her Father David, nor the kind of triumph which is the only kind that the world understands to be so. She desires one life and one triumph only – the Risen Life of her Saviour. And this, at last, is the transfiguration of her Humanity by the power of her Divinity and the vindication of them both.” (Excerpt From: Robert Hugh Benson. “Paradoxes of Catholicism.”)

Dear readers, many saints have assured us that our trials are sent by God, or allowed by God’s Providence, in order to form us more perfectly in the image of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the current darkness and isolation are God’s merciful provision of grace for our own entry into His resurrection. For we do know, but often forget, that we must be nailed with His nails to His Cross (for our cross is only ever His cross) and laid in His tomb in order to rise with Him. For it is only those who have generously consented to this crucifixion, led by our Mother, sustained by her love – the love Christ wills us both to have for one another – Mother and poor, sinful child! – that we are sustained in the darkness of this flesh of our crucifixion. Without her, we are lost. With her we shall unfailingly rise to live with Life, in Truth and Love, in glory ever after.

† . † . †

For those who read these words in an Eastertide of subdued rejoicing, under foreboding circumstances, must know that for this time, we only progress by the way in which we are led by Saint John of the Cross. Nada. For Christ our Lord won through the most grievous, painful losses. Who thinks they will follow Him without the pain, without the loss? Trust in Him. Not to give you joy, for this is not time for joy. Not to give you vain hope. But that our hope may be purified in the ground of our beseeching. To give you life in death. [end of essay]

Note for October 28, 2020: Make use of this time given you. Prepare spiritually.

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.

†  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!

†  St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.

†  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!