Letter from Fr. Allen - October 11, 2018

adoration-clipart-chalice.jpg

+JMJ+

Dear Friends,

Time flies! Here we are in the middle of October, though we are still dodging hurricanes and if autumn has arrived the humidity hasn't gotten the news. But November will soon be here and with it the great feasts of the Church Triumphant and Expectant. You will see notices for both All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day below. I remind you that All Saints' is a Holy Day of Obligation.

As a happy prelude to All Saints' Day and a reminder of the joy and comfort of the saints' intercession and companionship, this Sunday brings the canonization in Rome of six blesseds. They are:

  • Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini), Supreme Pontiff;

  • Oscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez, archbishop of San Salvador, martyr;

  • Francesco Spinelli, diocesan priest, founder of the Institute of the Sisters Adorers of the Most Holy Sacrament;

  • Vincenzo Romano, diocesan priest;

  • Maria Katharina Kasper, virgin, founder of the Institute of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ;

  • Nazaria Ignacia de Santa Teresa de Jesús (née: Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa), founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Crusaders of the Church.

Get to know these dear saints!

All Souls', while not obligatory, is an important and sweet day as well, as we pray for the repose of our faithful departed loved ones. To submit names of loved ones to be remembered at All Souls' Day Masses, please do so on the form here. May God grant them rest!

God bless you,
Fr Allen

[Editor’s note: You can watch the canonizations of the six Blesseds live Sunday morning, 14 October 2018, starting at 3.30AM Eastern time on EWTN. An encore will air at 12.00 noon. This article details more ways to find live and encore broadcasts of the canonization Mass. ]

2018Oct14Canonization6Blesseds.jpg

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

The Prayers of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Opening prayers

1. While holding a rosary, make the Sign of the Cross.
2. On the first small bead, recite the Our Father. 
3. On the second small bead, recite the Hail Mary.
4. On the third small bead, recite the Apostles’ Creed.

For Each Decade

1. On the large beads, recite:
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
2. On the ten small beads, recite: 
For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Concluding Prayer

Recite three times: 
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Hurricane Michael Updates

This information is up to date as of 5.16PM on 9 October 2018:

  • Wednesday School for October 10 has been cancelled due to Hurricane Michael.

A note from Fr Allen:

WEDNESDAY SCHOOL CANCELLED!

Due to expected adverse weather and flooding conditions conditions associated with hurricane Michael, Wednesday School is cancelled this week. We will be back on track next Wednesday.

Please keep those in the Florida panhandle in your prayers.

Stay home and stay safe!
Fr. Allen

Letter from Our Seminarian

o-POETRY-facebook.jpg

[This week I yield my space, a couple weeks late, to the epistolary eloquence of our seminarian, Robb Lester. Robb is studying at St Joseph's Abbey Seminary College in St Benedict, Louisiana. - Fr Allen]

Dear Fr Allen and Corpus Christi Family,

As I’m writing this Florence is rolling around off the coast trying to make up her mind where to go.  After just going through preparations a few weeks ago with Gordon, I understand the frustration of not knowing when and where these hurricanes go.  For us here at the abbey, we were lucky in that Gordon didn’t make it this far but we were prepared and well stocked with goldfish and other refreshments! I have offered prayers for all of you and ask St Scholastica to intercede for you. St Scholastica is St Benedict’s sister and is invoked against rain and storms.

It’s been a month or so since I arrived back at St. Ben's.  Mom and Dad helped me move back in and we all were able to take a side trip to Houston.  We attended mass at the cathedral with Bishop Lopes as celebrant and met up with a few of my seminarian brothers.  We dined with Bishop Lopes at his home. The bishop is not only a great shepherd who gives inspiring homilies but can cook a gourmet meal!  It was a wonderful evening to share with him and meet his mother, who is a delightful woman.

Classes have been the usual challenge, but I enjoy the opportunity to further my knowledge of the Church and continue my discernment process.  I must admit the recent scandal of abuses have shocked our community here at the seminary. As we have seen a small part of fatherhood, both spiritual and secular, has been affected, brotherhood and sonship must be protected. I know that our Blessed Mother will clean Holy Mother church by her authority as Queen of Heaven.  Please continue to pray for all seminarians, our formation directors and bishops and our Holy Father and that they who God has called to a holy priesthood will rightly and duly administer his holy word and be the fathers that the Church needs in these trying times. Please join with all in the Ordinariate Friday, 9/21 as we follow Bishop Lopes’ designation of this Ember day as a day of penance and fasting for the victims of abuse and for the Church’s healing.

I noted last year that I was the only one from the Ordinariate here at St Ben's. This year I have a brother seminarian who is part of the ordinariate. He, too, is learning that he has to do a little educating of those who do not know us.  It would have been helpful had Bishop Lopes had been able to come back the first week in September. He was to do our mass for the entire seminary and give a little background about us.  Gordon unfortunately had other plans! Tentatively, he is to come in December and show the beauty of our patrimony which is definitely a treasure to be shared.

All seniors have to participate in a mission trip for graduation requirements. Usual countries visited are in Central America, but I have been assigned to Ecuador.  We will leave in January for a few weeks to work with the locals there and share our common faith. Our faith doesn’t stop at the border, our faith doesn’t stop anywhere.  Where the poor and hungry are, Christ is still present.

I’m on several committees here, one being hospitality.  I am responsible for keeping rooms available for visitors in the hospitality hall thus making sure that Chapter 53 of The Rule of Saint Benedict is followed to always welcome guests and invite them to prayer.   I also have found myself on the Bonfire committee. Each November we have a joint venture with Notre Dame Seminary, not the famous Indiana one, but the major seminary in New Orleans! We host a day of flag football and fellowship and then light a bonfire that the men of St Ben's build on campus from trees on the property. It's a fun day just before we leave for Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to the construction and to the demolition!

Below is our class picture.  We have about 150 young men discerning from all over the southern US.  I am constantly amazed that there are so many men in this day and age who want to give themselves to Christ and his Church.  Please pray for them and the monks and our lay instructors that their words will be God’s word and raise up an holy priesthood.

As always, you are in my prayers and I will offer up all of you to Our Lady when I go to Houston in a few days to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham.  Please keep me in your prayers and I hope to see everyone at Thanksgiving.

In Christ's love,
Robb

The Rosary, Sub tuum praesidium, and the St Michael the Archangel prayer

Image: Our Lady of the Rosary with Saints by Unknown Artist. Brooklyn Museum.

Image: Our Lady of the Rosary with Saints by Unknown Artist. Brooklyn Museum.

Our Lady of the Rosary, Pray for Us!

Prayers in time of Spiritual Turbulence

October 7, which falls on Sunday this year, is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which commemorates victory of the Holy League over invading Turks at the Battle of Lepanto. Pope St Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, after a campaign for the faithful throughout Europe to pray the rosary on the day of the battle. 

Pope Francis has asked all the faithful in this time of "spiritual turbulence" to pray the rosary daily during the month of October, and also the Marian prayer Sub tuum praesidium and the St Michael the Archangel prayer.

  • How to recite the Rosary (pdf).

  • Sub Tuum Praesidium: We fly to Thy protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

  • Prayer to St. Michael: Saint Michael Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Franciscans return to Walsingham after 480 years

Photo: Catholic Herald

Photo: Catholic Herald

Catholic Herald
Friday, 28 September 2018
 

‘We feel we’ve come home’: Franciscans return to Walsingham for first time in 480 years


The new community of Greyfriars comes amid a flourishing of vocations
 

Franciscan friars have returned to England’s national Marian shrine for the first time since the Reformation.
 
Three Greyfriars – members of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor – arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in June.
 
Fr James Mary McInerney, the guardian of the community, said: “It’s a great joy for us. We feel we’ve come home.”
 
He and two other Franciscan priests will welcome pilgrims, hear Confessions and oversee a daily Holy Hour, as well as assist in the work of the shrine in whatever way is needed.
 
Franciscans first came to Walsingham in the 14th century. They ministered there for 201 years, looking after lepers and giving poor pilgrims a place to stay.
 
During that time the shrine became one of the most significant pilgrimage sites in Europe, but in 1538 it was dissolved.
 
The Holy House was burned to the ground and the priory attached to it was left in ruins.
 
The site has never been restored....

[Read the whole article here]