Popular Piety: Marian Devotions

I remember hearing my grandmother tell a story of the terrible two nights during the Clydebank Blitz, when the German Luftwaffe launched a bombing raid in March 1941. My grandmother, along with relatives and neighbours, sought refuge in an Anderson shelter, which was designed to withstand anything except a direct hit. As a devout Catholic, she prayed the Rosary repetitively through the night, to pray for protection and survival through the Blitz. When she had finished one of the mysteries of the Rosary, with the sound of bombs falling nearby, her protestant neighbour who was beside her in the shelter asked “can you start saying those prayers again?”

Marian devotions have been used by Catholics since the tenth century, and praying using beads is an ancient custom. Marian devotions have developed over centuries into what we have in modern times. Whether in times of despair or distress, needing protection, or in times of joy and thanksgiving, the Blessed Virgin Mary is a sacred space in the Catholic faith. Indeed, St John’s Gospel records that, as he suffered on the cross, he told his mother, “Woman, behold thy son”, and he then told the beloved disciple “Behold thy mother” (Jn 19:26-27). With these words, Mary is given as a Mother to the Church and the Church is entrusted as a mystical child to the woman.

The meditations of the Rosary were created in their modern form in 1483, by a Dominican Friar who published Our Dear Lady’s Psalter. Since then, the Dominicans have greatly promoted the Rosary as a practical and simple prayer, containing the Glorious, Sorrowful and Joyful mysteries. The Luminous mysteries were added in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. 

Other Marian devotions include hymns such as the Salve Regina, which is about the immaculate and perfect Church that is above and beyond our ordinary, broken lives. As the Queen of Heaven, Mary represents the Church perfected by Christ: she already is what the Church as a whole will become at the end of history. Pope John Paul II observed that “no one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary”. Despite what we may face in our lives, the Blessed Virgin Mary is there for us in prayer, as perfect as a human can possibly be. 

For a prayer sheet on how to recite the Rosary, visit: www.medjugorje.org/rosary.pdf

Popular Piety: Eucharistic Adoration

‘I look at him and he looks at me.’ This is what a certain peasant of Ars used to say to his holy Curé about his prayer before the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle. In Eucharistic Adoration, we are privileged not just to contemplate Christ in the tabernacle, but to have Christ physically present before us, so that we may gaze upon Our Lord and Saviour with adoring eyes.

The origins of this popular devotion have several sources. Its initial form derives from Holy Thursday and watching at the altar of repose, following the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, in which way we beautifully bear witness to the connection between the celebration of the memorial of the Lord's Sacrifice and his continued presence in the Sacrament of the Altar.

Around the fourth century monasteries began to reserve the Eucharist, and by the 11th century, reservation, mainly for the Viaticum, was a regular feature in churches. However, it is not until the late 11th or early 12th Century, and the refining of the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist at Lateran IV, prompted by the false teaching being proclaimed by the monk, Berengar of Tours, that we really see a strong devotion developing for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. From this point on we see numerous Eucharistic devotions like processions, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and other prayers focused on the reserved Sacrament, becoming part of Catholic life.

About a century later, to counter the falsehood being promulgated by Peter Cantor, that transubstantiation of the bread only took place when the priest had pronounced the words of consecration over both the bread and wine, a custom arose and spread of adoring the Host immediately after the words, Hoc est enim corpus meum, and by a natural transition the practice of showing it to the people for this purpose arose. Times of extended exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, outside the Mass, grew out of this action, born out of a natural desire to spend longer gazing upon Our Lord. Eventually a blessing with the exposed Eucharist, or Benediction, developed.

Eucharistic Adoration has continued unabated since that time and continues to bear great fruits in the lives of faithful individuals and of movements associated with it. In fact at the present time there seems to be a resurgence of Adoration amongst many of those who wish to have a deeper relationship with Christ. For, as people become ever more aware of the unceasing distractions of the world, it seems even more important to “spend quality time” (in modern parlance) with our loved ones, lest our relationship wither.

Finally, the fitting way for any Dominican to end a reflection on Eucharistic Adoration is with these words of St Thomas Aquinas OP, familiar throughout the Universal Church:

Tantum ergo Sacramentum veneremur cernui: et antiquum documentum novo cedat ritui: praestet fides supplementum sensuum defectui. Genitori, Genitoque laus et jubilatio, salus, honor, virtus quoque sit et benedictio: Procedenti ab utroque compar sit laudatio.

Down in adoration falling, Lo! the sacred Host we hail, Lo! oe'r ancient forms departing Newer rites of grace prevail; Faith for all defects supplying, Where the feeble senses fail. To the everlasting Father, And the Son Who reigns on high With the Holy Spirit proceeding Forth from each eternally, Be salvation, honour blessing, Might and endless majesty.

Popular Piety: Blessings

'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ (Ephesians 1: 3).

A blessing is a divine and life-giving action which has the Father as its source. This means that in the fullest sense of the word the whole of creation is a blessing. This creation, as we know, was damaged by sin but later restored through the divine blessing entering into human history in the events of salvation history which culminated in the triumph of Christ’s death and resurrection. In this new creation the blessings of God are communicated through Christ: he pours into our hearts ‘the Gift that contains all gifts’, the Holy Spirit, and it is in this Trinitarian dynamic that Christian liturgy and all Christian prayer becomes possible: our liturgy and our prayer is a response of faith and love to the blessings that the Father has bestowed on us in Christ; and the Church in the Spirit and through Christ blesses the Father in return. 

The Trinitarian prayer of the Church is centred on the celebration of the seven sacraments and has the Eucharist as its source and summit. The sacraments are efficacious signs, they make really present what they symbolize: that is, through these signs God shows us what he is doing to bring humanity to himself and actually does what he is showing us. In other words, in the sacraments Christ graciously reaches down through the centuries to bless us, to apply to Christians the merits of His sacrifice so that we might share His resurrection. The superabundant merits of Christ overflow onto us so that we can share in his Divine life, in this way the blessing of Christ also spills out beyond the sacramental liturgy into the rest of our lives. 

 

This ‘spilling over’ of the sacraments into our everyday lives can be moral or spiritual. For example, holy men and women are often said to lead ‘Eucharistic lives’: lives of sacrifice, love and thanksgiving that extend the sacrifice of mass into their everyday life. Complementing this moral and spiritual dimension, we can also think of our sacramental life spilling over into our devotional life through what the Church calls ‘sacramentals’. These are also sacred signs and as such they bear a resemblance to the sacraments, but their chief effect is to better dispose us to receive, embrace and co-operate with the transforming power of the sacraments themselves.

Sacramentals derive from our baptismal priesthood. Every Christian is called to be a blessing and to bless, that is, to be an instrument of divine gift and to offer thanksgiving. This makes blessings the most significant of all the sacramentals. Every blessing praises God and offers back to Him His gifts. When we invoke the name of Jesus and put people and things under the sign of Christ’s Cross, we offer these people and things to God as a gift so that he might turn them towards the sanctification of men and women. The practice, then, of blessing devotional items such as rosaries, objects that play a key role in structuring our lives such as our homes, even an object we work with such as a computer, and people, is a way of extending our sacramental life into our everyday life so that we might more fully embrace both in holiness and truth.

Was Frère Jacques a lazy Dominican?

Frère Jacques must surely be the most famous French song in the world. Even the English know it! In fact, it isn't just a French song now, as it has been translated and adapted into other languages all over the globe. The origins of this catchy round, however, are obscure. Several theories abound, but perhaps the most likely (if unimaginative) one is that the protagonist was simply a religious brother who didn't get up to ring the Matins bell, as the song describes. More specifically, was Frère Jacques a lazy Dominican?

And why might he be a Dominican? Quite simply, the Dominican friars in France have for centuries been known as 'Jacobins', after the first Dominican priory in Paris on the Rue Saint-Jacques, which led south towards Santiago de Compostela. The name was subsequently applied to other Dominican priories, including the Couvent des Jacobins in Toulouse where St Dominic established his first community of friars, and another Parisian priory, the Couvent de l'Anonciation in the Rue Saint-Honoré, where a revolutionary club met in 1789 and acquired the name 'Jacobin' – under which the notorious Reign of Terror was then perpetrated, especially against the Church. Today, the 22nd October, is in fact the anniversary of the dedication of that great priory in Toulouse, whose importance is to some extent indicated by the fact that St Thomas Aquinas OP is buried there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sj122

To investigate this theory about Brother James (or Jack, not John), BBC Radio 3 came to Blackfriars Oxford earlier this year. Here they interviewed Fr Richard Ounsworth OP (Editor of Godzdogz) about the ancien régime friars, and recorded both our morning Office and also three brothers singing the song as a canon.

In the programme, Fr Richard discusses the centrality of common prayer and the spirit of fraternity in our Order. He admits that Brother James could have been a lazy friar who didn't get up in the morning, and adds a playful dig at 'the younger brethren' today. Such brethren have no excuse, I suppose, since morning prayer in Oxford begins at 7.45am these days, not the 3am customary in earlier centuries!

Incidentally, Oxford is not the only English priory with a bell; Holy Cross, Leicester has a carillon including the great bell, named Malcolm, after Bishop Malcolm MacMahon OP of Nottingham Diocese.

The section on the Dominicans can be heard from 6'35" to 11'17" here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sj122

Enjoy the programme!

Popular Piety: The Sign of the Cross

'My power is perfected in weakness'

The sign of the cross is the sign of our faith. It is faith in the cross of Christ that defines us as Christians; through it we receive the grace that saves. Without the cross – and the resurrection that revealed Christ's death to be his triumph over death itself – our faith would be vain and we would still be in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17). Christ's death is the ultimate sign that he was truly incarnate: he truly became man, and so he was truly able to die. Through his incarnate weakness, he could be our friend: for he could love us to the end (Jn. 13:1, 15:13).

The cross is thus the sign of God's love for humanity. It is a powerful sign, whether being used to cast out demons or to assure victory (in hoc signo) to the Emperor Constantine at the Milvian Bridge. Yet this is only because it boasts of Christ's weakness. Christ says: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness' (2 Cor. 12:9). So, following St Paul (1 Cor. 1:23), the crucified Christ is a 'stumbling block' or 'foolishness' to us until we accept that God's infinite love means that he laid down his life for us, as his friends.

Filipino Catholics in a queue for American
visas in the comedy film 'La Visa Loca'

The sign of the cross is many things: a pious gesture, a prayer, a blessing, a physical expression of Trinitarian faith. It is egalitarian in its simplicity, deep in its theology, and universal (truly 'catholic') in its relevance. We use it to start and end our prayers, especially the Mass; to bless things; and indeed in every sacramental act. There are cultural variations, of course, since there are many ways to express the richness of Trinitarian theology. In the Eastern churches it goes right to left, using three fingers (to represent the Trinity), leaving the other two to symbolise the two natures of Christ. There are also smaller signs of the cross: we use our thumb at the gospel, for instance, to trace the cross over our forehead, lips, and breast. It can be a bold and deliberate gesture, or a surreptitious act of faith in dire circumstances. And are there many public acts of Christian witness more striking than being marked with the cross on one's forehead on Ash Wednesday?

The 'Dogmatic Sarcophagus' (c. 320) showing the Blessed Trinity

The popular piety of this act is very ancient indeed. Tertullian (born c. 160 AD) noted: "In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting of our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupieth us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross" (De cor. Mil., iii). Ancient Christians associated the sign with certain Scriptural passages, including Ezekiel's instruction to 'mark their brows with a cross', i.e. the letter tau (Ez. 9:4) and the 'seal on the foreheads of those who serve our God' (Rev. 7:3).

But it is no less important today. Catholic sportsmen often make the sign of the cross on the pitch, sometimes contentiously! Some Catholics bless every loaf of bread with a small cross as an act of grace. Parents putting their children to bed sign the cross on their forehead. Many also make the sign every time they pass a church. I was impressed when I once saw a whole bus-full of people in Romania do this repeatedly along an urban route, and I've also seen it done by students walking past Blackfriars. In all these ways, we can express outwardly our Trinitarian faith, receive inwardly the grace which God gives us through faith, and in everything give the glory to our crucified Lord.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

New Series: Popular Piety

How do we know things about God? Well, a traditional answer would be go something like this: we know about God by his self-revelation in Scripture and Tradition, transmitted by the Church’s Magisterium, and by using the God-given aids of reason and religious experience that help us to make sense of that self-revelation. That’s all well and good, but it might strike us as a little bit clinical, perhaps as the language of the theology textbook rather than the language of the heart. If we were asked by a friendly enquirer in a pub, it’s probably not how we’d go about talking about our friendship with Jesus Christ nor about our own powerful experiences of His transforming love.

Rosary Supermarket in Lourdes

When we look at the myriad of ways in which ordinary Christians reach out to God and experience God reaching out to them, however, we find that they are patterned by that traditional answer. Scripture, Tradition, shared religious experiences and the light of natural reason co-mingle in the various forms of popular piety that are born in Christian cultures across the globe. To take one example - the Rosary, ‘the Gospel on a string’ - we use our intellects to reflect on the mysteries of Christ’s life transmitted to us in Scripture and Tradition; we draw upon the accumulated wisdom bequeathed to us by the experience of generations of faithful Christians who have gone before us. Through popular piety, Christian theology comes alive in diverse cultures in ways simultaneously both accessible and profound.

All Souls Day in Mexico

It’s true to say, of course, that some expressions of popular piety need to be purified from an excessive sentimentality by a dose of reason. But we’d be wrong to conclude from the primacy of reason that sentimentality is always to be shunned. One of the great insights of St Thomas Aquinas OP was that, reflecting the holism of the human person, our emotions - even as they sometimes stand in need of correction by our thoughts - are fundamentally sound and essentially indispensable, ‘pointing’ us in the right direction, toward the good; rationality and emotion are conjoined. In fact, popular piety involves the mutual purification of sentiment and reason in the light of the Holy Spirit. Far from being ‘above’ popular piety, then, theologians often find popular piety to be a valued locus of reflection, or even find themselves corrected by it: popular piety is a reflection of “the supernatural appreciation of faith on the part of the whole people” of God (CCC §92).

The Spanish tradition entierro de la sardina marks the start of Lent

With this in mind, over the next few months, the Godzdogz team will be dedicating a series to the exploration of popular piety. From bona mors to blessings, we hope to share with you an appreciation of some of the gems of the Church’s rich spiritual panorama, and so to rejoice in the gift of our Catholic diversity.

Academic Mass

Each academic year at Blackfriars opens with the offering of a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, at which staff and students gather to consecrate their studies and teaching to God and implore the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Godzdogz newly appointed official photographer, Br Luke Doherty OP, was on hand to capture the event.

The Regent of Studies, Fr Simon Francis Gaine OP, who is simultaneously the Regent of the English Dominican Province and the head of Blackfriars Hall and Studium, presided at Mass and preached. In his sermon, Fr Simon reminded us of the intimacy of knowledge as communion in the truth and noted that by dedication to our studies we image the Blessed Trinity, whose inner life is a communion of knowledge and love. 

On such occasions it is wonderful to be joined both by our regular Mass congregation and by members of the other religious orders and groups that are preparing for priesthood in our studium. This year we are joined by members of the new community of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual established nearby; also pictured are Dominican Sisters involved in the running of the Hall and candidates for the priesthood of the Personal Ordinate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

After participating in the eternal banquet, students and staff convened in the Refectory to enjoy a temporal feast. This is a great opportunity for us to get to know each other a littler better and (we hope) for our guests to enjoy a share in our lives together as brothers. Our community life is greatly enriched by the presence of "so great a cloud of witnesses"!

The students of Blackfriars Hall are drawn from all over the world and study subjects ranging from Migration Studies to Theology, including the archetypal Oxford degree: PPE. Each year we also welcome a number of international visiting students who spend a short period of time with us as part of a broader course of studies elsewhere.

Fr Felix Korlija OP, a son of the Croatian province, works the crowd:

Br Samuel Burke OP (top) and Br Toby Lees OP (bottom) were on hand to serve food and drink to students new and returning:

  

Godzdogz Team 2013-14

Godzdogz is blessed with several new members! Having taken their Simple Vows in Blackfriars, Cambridge on Sunday 29th September, the prioral feast of St Michael and All Angels, four newly-professed brothers have moved to Oxford to take up their formal studies for the priesthood: namely, Br Toby Lees OP, Br Luke Doherty OP, Br Samuel Burke OP, and Br Jordan Scott OP. Godzdogz also welcomes Br Paweł Szylak OP, a son of the Province of Poland, who is in Oxford for one year to continue his studies and priestly formation.

Photo: Fr James Claffey OP

Back row (left to right): Fr David Sanders OP (Student Master), Br Pawel Szylak OP (Province of Poland), Br Jordan Scott OP.

Front row (left to right): Br Luke Doherty OP, Br Samuel Burke OP, Fr Richard Ounsworth OP (Godzdogz Editor), Br Nicholas Crowe OP, Br Matthew Jarvis OP, Br Toby Lees OP.

Regrettably absent from the photo are two veterans of this blog, Br Oliver Keenan OP, who was unavoidably engaged in apostolic activity at the time, and Br Andrew Brookes OP, who made his Solemn Profession in Oxford on 21st September. We congratulate Br Andrew and the four newly-professed brothers and look forward to their future contributions to Godzdogz. Please keep us all in your prayers.

Dominican Youth Movement – National Launch, 2-3 November

The friars are launching the Dominican Youth Movement, which is aimed at young people aged 18-35. Our hope is to support Catholic youth and help them to form networks from the time they are in university chaplaincies until their young professional/married lives. We hope to extend the chaplaincy experience and support network, keeping young people within the Dominican family, and offering opportunities in local areas and at larger regional and national gatherings for young Catholics to meet for prayer, study of the faith, recreation and discussions with friars so as to enable an on-going faith development.

If you are a young person already connected in some way to the Dominican Order in Great Britain, or are looking to explore how you can become a part of the Dominican Youth Movement, we invite you to come to the National Launch. It takes place on the weekend of 2-3 November at St Albert's Catholic Chaplaincy in Edinburgh. There's an exciting programme lined up – see all the details in the poster below!

The Launch is an entirely FREE event, but spaces are limited, so you need to book.

If you have any queries about the DYM in general or about the weekend, or wish to book your place, write to dym@english.op.org

Day of Recollection at Boars' Hill

And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while." For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat (Mark 6:31).

Everyone can appreciate these words of Our Lord, as rest is so precious. But for busy Dominicans, who are simultaneously called to a life of quiet contemplation and active preaching, this can be a particularly urgent call. We have to pray, yet we also have to get all our work done. Then again, I don't know many Dominicans who would prioritise evangelisation over eating! So perhaps we do know how to take a break.

Still, we need that precious time in prayer. So it was that, on Thursday last week, the whole community of Blackfriars, Oxford went up the mountain, both literally and figuratively, for a day of recollection at the Carmelite Priory on Boars' Hill. 

Overlooking the 'dreaming spires' of Oxford, not far from where Matthew Arnold received the inspiration for his poem, the Carmel here is ideally situated for a day of restful retreat to prepare for the new academic year. 

Fr James McCaffrey OCD, in two talks, helped us to understand the bridge between contemplation and action; indeed, time spent with Christ is always 'truly apostolic activity'. The first talk took us through the dialogue about the Eucharist in the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, with sideways glances at other Eucharistic passages in the New Testament. Speaking without notes, it was impressive just to hear how much Scripture was held in Fr McCaffrey's memory, and deeply he had studied and prayed with the text. The theme of love, especially that Jesus 'loved them [his disciples] to the end' (Jn 13:1), as told in the Last Supper discourse, helped to illumine the earlier exposition of Chapter 6. In the second talk, Fr McCaffrey highlighted (again from memory) all the passages in John's Gospel that speak of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is presented again and again as both Teacher and Witness. Above all, the message is that Jesus is the abiding place of the Holy Spirit.

There was, in addition, plenty of time for private prayer and meditation, quiet walks in the countryside, and browsing the excellent Carmelite bookshop. Then, before Vespers, the whole community gathered to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. In all, the day was a particularly special moment for our Dominican community, to take time out of our own personal and community schedules in order to rest and pray together on retreat.

Since Fr McCaffrey enriched his talks with poetic quotations and prayers from the great Carmelite saints, here is one of those prayers which I'd like to share with you. It is by St Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, better known as Edith Stein.

Who are you, kindly light, who fill me now and brighten all the darkness of my heart? 

You guide me forward like a mother's hand and, if you let me go, I could not take a single step alone.

You are the space, embracing all my being, hidden in it and what name can contain you? 

You, Holy Spirit, 

you, eternal love!

The Blessing of Roses

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. At Blackfriars, Oxford we followed the beautiful Dominican tradition of blessing and handing out roses at Mass on this day.

In his homily, the Prior, Fr John O'Connor OP, highlighted the 'simple and simplifying' nature of the Rosary as a form of prayer. It is a way of praying that maintains a delicate balance between gentle activity (the words, the beads) and receptive contemplation; between the repetition of the prayers and our ever-deepening meditation on the mysteries of our redemption in Christ.

The words of blessing spoken by the priest over the roses are a lovely evocation of the grace we have received in Christ, whom the Blessed Virgin brought into the world, and run as follows:

Blessing of Roses

For the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

From the Dominican Breviary

O God, Creator and Preserver of the human race, who grant us the Holy Spirit with His seven-fold gifts, and who generously bestow eternal salvation:

Sanctify, we pray, and bless these roses.

We present them before You today, and seek Your blessing upon them, to express our thanks to You, and our devotion towards the blessed Ever-Virgin Mary and her Rosary.

You created these roses as a source of pleasant fragrance and gave them to us to lift our spirits. Then through the power of the holy Cross pour out upon them Your heavenly + blessing.

Signed by the holy + Cross may they receive so powerful a blessing that in the houses and hospitals where they are taken the sick may be healed. From the places where they are kept may the powers of evil flee in fear and terror, nor may they presume again to disturb Your servants.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.