June 2009
Vol. XXX, No. 6
Dear Oblates and Friends of Portsmouth,
At the resumption of what the Church refers to as Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar, the feast of the Trinity calls our attention to the central truth of our faith which is at the same time its deepest mystery, since it concerns the inner life of God. But each Sunday is dedicated to the Trinity, since this is the day set apart for the worship of God, in response to the commandment to remember to keep holy the Sabbath. It is the triune character of the God of Christian belief that makes Christianity specifically different from the other higher religions, which profess monotheism. With Moslems and Jews we likewise share the necessity of observing the twofold commandment to love God and neighbor. It is in the concept of the nature of the Godhead that we differ. A special revelation was needed to reveal the trinitarian mystery since this could not be known by merely natural reason. And this could only be unfolded by Jesus through his divine and human natures. Jesus took on human flesh to redeem the fallen human race, to restore the grace to God lost through original sin and make it possible to share in the life of the Godhead. But in the process of securing the redemption of mankind, it was also necessary for Jesus to reveal his own divine nature and the existence of the Holy Spirit whose earthly ministry would follow his own, beginning with his coming at Pentecost.
When we pray, we perhaps fail to think of God as a triune being, or we may concentrate on an attribute specifically associated with only one of the persons. Although we can never comprehend what must of its nature remain a supernatural mystery, we must be aware of the trinity as a supremely important article of our faith. The Jews of old considered Jesus' claim of divinity to be blasphemous and consequently worthy of death. It was a direct attack on their most cherished belief of strict monotheism and they could not reconcile a threefold concept of God with their restricted notion of God's oneness. We (the Scribes and Pharisees, as official guardians of the Jewish religion) stone you for no good work but for blasphemy, because you being a man make yourself God. Jesus' teaching on the Holy Spirit was only made explicit in his discourse at the Last Supper when he promised not to leave his disciples orphans, but would send them another Paraclete who would teach them everything and remind them of all that he had told them during his ministry. The Christian feast of Pentecost marks the official beginning of the Church Jesus founded and the ministry of the Third Person of the Trinity, one which would assure the spiritual presence of Jesus until the consummation of the world.
Each time we receive the Eucharist, we are incorporated in the life of the Trinity, and when we pray to God, we share, in a very real sense, in the activity of the Godhead. The sacrament enables us to communicate with God and with each other, providing us with a preview, as it were, of the divine life of love, peace, harmony and unity. But is this what we truly experience when we receive communion, or is it rather what is supposed to happen? We certainly should undergo a degree of spiritual change and experience to some extent what the church teaches about the effects of the sacrament. Repetition and routine tend to reduce our consciousness of the enormity of the gift we have been given. Here familiarity may not breed contempt, but it can breed indifference.
If this is what spiritual writers refer to as "a foretaste of heaven," why do we feel such a sense of anti-climax, an absence of the profound encounter that should occur? The answer probably lies in our anthropomorphic conception of heaven and union with God. Part too is in our inability to free ourselves for very long from the concerns of this world, the "world that is too much with us," as well as our need for instant gratification in the here and now. Too often we identify union with God with the much abused phrase, peace of mind, which may not even be a byproduct.
The peace that is promised us by God is one which passes human understanding. it is not of this world; it is a promise that may partially be realized in the present, but only completely in the next life, a peace that we look for in the hope and certainty of our faith in the Triune God, as we pray to the Holy Spirit in John Dryden's translation of the hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus, in the Sequence for the feast of Pentecost:
Immortal Honour, endless fame,
Attend the Almighty Father's Name:
The Saviour Son be glorified,
Who for lost man's redemption died;
And equal adoration be,
Eternal Paraclete, to Thee.
Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
The church dedicated to the Apostle Paul by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century has been the victim of a number of disasters in its long, eventful history, suffering from depredations by Saracen invaders, damaged by earthquake and finally almost totally destroyed by fire in 1823, necessitating its reconstruction for which it derived world-wide assistance The new church retained the basilica style, an architectural form derived from the rectangular, columned hall for public functions used in the Roman imperial period, enabling the congregation to witness the liturgy taking place in the apse where the sarcophagus of the apostle was buried under the high altar. This church closely resembled the first basilicas authorized by Constantine to honor the burial places of Jesus in Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the principal Christian saints in Rome: the Apostle Peter at the Vatican, John the Baptist at the Lateran, the Virgin Mary at Saint Mary Major, and Paul at Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Recent excavations under the altar have resulted in the discovery of a marble sarcophagus with an inscription, To Paul the apostle and martyr, confirming the burial location of Paul, in a way similar to the excavations performed at the Vatican in the mid-twentieth century when Peter's bones were found. Benedictine monks have been associated with the basilica since the time of Pope Gregory II, and later popes have been closely involved with its role in monastic reform. In addition to being granted the status of an abbey nullius, with the abbot given supervision of parishes in the surrounding district, the monastery established a school of ecclesiastical studies, inviting monks from other houses to further their academic pursuits at Rome. This venture attracted such figures as the brothers Wolter and Dom Gueranger, who later were responsible for the revival of Benedictine monasticism during the nineteenth century in Germany and France, and for its development in the United States. The school of Saint Paul's Abbey was the direct forerunner of the present pontifical academy of Sant' Anselmo reestablished by Pope Leo XIII in 1888. Since 2005 Saint Paul's has been headed by Dom Edmund Power, a monk of Douay Abbey of the English Benedictine Congregation.
Liturgical Calendar for June
Cycle of Prayer for Summer: Deeper Understanding between Christians & Jews;
Those Who Suffer Persecution, Oppression and Denial of Human Rights; Europe;
Human Life, Seafarers
1 St. Justin, Martyr
3 St. Charles Lwanga & Companions, Martyrs
5 St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr, Apostle of Germany
6 St. Norbert, Bishop, Founder of Premonstratensions
7 Sunday: MOST HOLY TRINITY
9 St. Columba of Iona, Abbot & Missionary
11 St. Barnabas, Apostle & Missionary Companion of Paul
13 St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor
14 Sunday: CORPUS CHRISTI
19 Friday: Sacred Heart of Jesus
20 St. Alban, Protomartyr of Britain
21 SUNDAY XII IN ORDINARY TIME
22 St. John Fisher, Bishop & St. Thomas More, Martyrs
24 Nativity of St. John the Baptist
27 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor
29 SS. Peter and Paul, Apostles
Conclusion of Pauline Year
Note: The oblate meeting scheduled for May 31 has been cancelled, as noted previously. Dates of future meetings will be announced during the summer.
Corrigendum: In the May Newsletter it was erroneously stated in the article on Blessed Damien De Veuster that Dr. Hyde was an Anglican instead of a Presbyterian clergyman.
