Celebrating Priesthood: Fr Gerald Vann OP

When I was an undergraduate studying theology in London my chaplain, Fr Tim Calvert OP, gave me a copy of The Divine Pity as spiritual reading. I remember being surprised at how slim a volume it was and I immediately began to read it. What struck me most of all was the punchiness of the text: this was clearly a man who was not afraid to challenge his readers with the hard hitting truth. I found myself drawn to this book and had many questions for Fr Tim about its author. As I was hoping to join the Order at this time, it was a thrill to think that I might one day belong to the same province as this priest who had such insight into the human condition and wrote so beautifully.

I think the reason why The Divine Pity touches me and so many others so deeply is that it reflects the struggles of a man who felt compelled to speak the truth about how we as Christians should be, and how we all too often act. Fr Gerald seems to have had a particular hatred for selfishness and indifference, two things that he thinks are the most deadly for the life of charity within the soul. With great flair he managed to write a book of just under 200 pages within which so much practical Christian wisdom and teaching is contained that it could almost be seen as a course in the spiritual life. Again and again he points out the potential pitfalls of emphasising any particular aspect of the virtuous life out of proportion so that it becomes a distortion and is not in fact virtue at all. The book takes as its structure the beatitudes and indeed the subtitle of it is 'A Study in the Social Implications of the Beatitudes'.

Fr Gerald begins his exploration of the beatitudes with the importance of our teleological end, namely: God made us to know Him, love Him, serve Him and so to be happy. He follows his brother St. Thomas in this approach. Making clear that Christian virtue is related to but distinct from how it was understood by the Greeks, he points out that in the labour required to gain the habits of prudence, justice et al there is the same self-mastery that we find in the Greeks, but that this is only half the picture. For the Christian, the human being is to be a master but also a child. For virtue to be a part of religion it must genuinely be an act of worship, an act offered for God, to God, and with God and not have the human being himself as the focus.

In the first chapter, where his approach to the beatitudes is introduced, Fr Gerald first mentions one of the core concepts of the book: that to be a happy and holy Christian is not primarily a question of doing but of being. The virtues lived perfectly are not something that we do but something by which we are possessed. In an age where the fear of what doing nothing might bring pushes almost everyone to embrace a culture of activism, it is such a relief to read that all we really have to do is to let God take over. The anxieties and neuroses that are the product of a semi-Pelagian attitude must be left behind, says Fr Gerald. The feeling that we must make everything happen has no place here, it is not a Christian approach.

Fr Gerald sees poverty of spirit as a child-like dependence on God. It is the opposite of pride which attempts to be autonomous, which wills to be its own master. The book was published in 1945 at the end of the Second World War when the world had just seen the utter failure and horror of a system that put Man at the centre. He sees this failure as inevitable since we cannot just be human. Either we accept the gift that God wishes to give us and become more than human, or we reject it and therefore become less than human. For Christ is the key to understanding true humanity.

This true humanity requires purity of heart and it is this purity that enables us to see God. Fr Gerald quotes St. Thomas who says that the life of vision is not in the first half of the beatitudes, which are the conditions required for happiness, for the life of vision is not a means to happiness but happiness itself. He sees temperateness as a central aspect of this beatitude since it concerns how to enjoy people, animals and things for themselves and not as a means to an end. A metaphor for temperateness can be the reverence with which a connoisseur treats a rare and expensive wine. This is the reverence that the Christian should have for all things. Temperateness is not restricted to the use of food and alcohol and it is not a restrictive, negative quality but a positive creative trait which is essential if we wish to love. As we genuflect when we pass the Blessed Sacrament, are we to ignore the presence of God in those who have just received him at the altar? If we learn to see things rightly by seeing God within them, then we learn to make our whole lives a unity. Instead of an agglomerate of unconnected interests, we become a single and all-inclusive fire.

It is this holy fire of divine love, which as it consumes us makes us into itself, that I found in this book and which has been such an inspiration to me. Since I first read The Divine Pity I have retained a great love for this work and a great admiration for Fr Gerald Vann. I wish that I could have met him in this life, but please God I shall meet him in the next.

Celebrating Priesthood - Monsignor Georges Lemaître

One of greatest fallacies of the "new atheists" is that modern cosmology and physics prove the mendacity of religion and therefore people of faith ignore or even attack scientific inquiry. Last September I was lucky enough to be at the University of Edinburgh Student Union's freshers fair and came upon the secularist society's stall. Amongst their promotional paraphernalia were badges saying "I Believe in the Big Bang". I, of course, was very happy to take one of these badges and, to the horror of these 'rational' youths, put it on my habit. I think they would be further mortified if they realised that the 'hypothesis of the primeval atom' or the Big Bang Theory was proposed by a Belgian Catholic priest in 1933. Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître was born in 1894 and was educated by Jesuits. At the age of 17 he entered the Catholic University of Leuven to study civil engineering. His studies were interrupted when the Kaiser invaded Belgium in 1914. The young Georges enlisted as an artillery officer in the Belgian army and served throughout the great war with distinction, being awarded the Croix de Guerre with palms.

After the War Georges focused his energies on his study of mathematics and physics. Whilst writing his doctorate, he realised that he was being called by God to be a priest. He began his studies for the priesthood and was ordained in 1923. His superiors encouraged his obvious scientific talents and sent him to study astronomy at the University of Cambridge, where he spent a year at St Edmund's House (now St Edmund's College, which happens to be next door to the Dominican Priory in Cambridge). He returned to Leuven to lecture in 1925 and two years later gained international fame through presenting the new idea of an expanding universe. This challenged the established finite-size static universe model proposed by Einstein. Einstein refuted Lemaître's theory, saying "your math is correct, but your physics is abominable"

Nevertheless the work of this cleric was attracting interest and in 1930 he was invited to the British Association in London, where he expanded his theory. He proposed that the Universe expanded from an initial point, which he called the "Primeval Atom". Lemaître described his theory as "the Cosmic Egg exploding at the moment of the creation"; it became better known as the "Big Bang theory", a phrase originally used sarcastically.

This proposal met skepticism from his fellow scientists at the time. Eddington found Lemaître's notion unpleasant. Einstein found it suspect because he deemed it unjustifiable from a physical point of view. On the other hand, Einstein encouraged Lemaître to look into the possibility of models of non-isotropic expansion, so it's clear he was not altogether dismissive of the concept. He also appreciated Lemaître's argument that a static, Einsteinian model of the universe could not be sustained indefinitely into the past. Between 1930 and 1933 Lemaître developed and debated his findings. New investigations into cosmic rays and changes within the cosmological consensus resulted in the Belgian priest being vindicated, with Einstein declaring his theory to be "the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I have ever listened."

Georges Lemaître died in 1966, highly regarded and honoured as a scientist. He is an example of how reason and revelation complement and enrich each other in the honest pursuit of truth. As a priest he demonstrated the importance of engaging with the world and secular society. Who knows how many scientists and students kept or found their faith through his example?

Pope Dedicates Audience to St. Albert the Great

Jesus Christ is Risen Today

To celebrate Easter, fr Robert Verrill OP plays 'Jesus Christ is Risen Today' on the trumpet

EASTER SUNDAY - Ridicule, Reversal, Rejoicing

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 10:34, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4 (or: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8); John 20:1-9

A monk, whose name has been lost in history, was pondering the meaning of the events of Holy Week, with its solemn observances of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the astonishing, earth-shaking events of Easter. "What a surprise ending," he thought. Then suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, he had a new insight. His hearty laugh startled his fellow monks, breaking the silence of their contemplation.

"Don't you see?" he cried. "It was a joke! A great joke! The best joke in all history! On Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, the devil thought he had won. But God had the last laugh on Easter when he raised Jesus from the dead." This reaction is understandable. When faced with the resurrection the most understandable response is laughter. There is the the laughter of ridicule and mockery that St. Paul received from the Athenians at the Areopagus, a laughter we still hear today from the secularist wings of society. Their cries of "No way! I have never experienced resurrection so it can't be true" continue to mock and sneer at this event which is pivotal not only to our faith but to the whole universe and to the entire created order.

The laughter of ridicule is however hollow and self condemning. For we think so little of ourselves that we must raise ourselves by inches as we stand on others. When we mock life it is not because we embrace life, but because we are afraid of it. This is the laughter of ridicule; this is the laughter of fear and it has about it the odour of death. There is however another type of laughter, the laughter of reversal. Humour is "tragedy standing on its head with its trousers split." Laughter is the response to seeing death step on the banana peel and what is feared more than death? What a cause for hilarity: the mighty have been brought low. It is the laughter of reversal. St. Paul says "Death is swallowed up in victory". And today it has been.

God is in the business of reversing "the way things are." Today the rhetorical question "what good can come out of Nazareth?" is answered. The King of Kings who was shamefully crucified, died and was buried, but who is alive and glorified: He came out of Nazareth. And by joining in with this laughter of reversal and by grabbing the hand of the Risen Christ we begin to experience the final form of laughter, the laughter of rejoicing. The laughter of rejoicing allows us to cry out in victory over the worst this world can dish out. The last laugh is at the resurrection, not a laugh of ridicule or even of reversal, but a laugh of rejoicing. Sin, death and sorrow have been swallowed up by redemption, life and joy.

[An Easter diversion - match these Scripture passages with the photographs in this article - Luke 24:13; Galatians 6:14; Matthew 28:11]

HOLY SATURDAY - Good News About The Church

"And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised" - Matthew 27:51f.

This Holy Week, no one can have missed the sensational headlines concerning scandals committed by churchmen and the alleged failure of some Church leaders. Headlines are punchy one-liners, designed to catch our attention. At their best, they invite us to read the article they herald and maybe discover whatever truth it contains. At their worst, they are misleading and we can wrongly think they capture the truth in a nutshell, so that we don't need to consider the issue any further. It's fair to say that most of the media headlines which have captured the world's attention this Lent have been of the latter kind, and people have thus been led to form a kangaroo court, and to judge the Church of Jesus Christ, and to jeer at her. One need only peruse the hateful and intemperate comment boxes of the media or various blogs for evidence of this. And so, once again Jesus Christ, truly present as the Head of His Mystical Body, the Church, is scourged and lashed for the sins of his people and his ministers.

As the Victim of those sins, Jesus identifies Himself with all those who have been victims, and so the Church, who is always first and foremost the Mystical Body of Christ, truly identifies with their pain and trauma; the victims' pain and anger is also the Church's anguish and distress. Christ then mounts the Cross to redeem sinners and endure an agonizing death with suffering humanity. But even as He hangs there in love, those who do not know what they are doing mock and jeer at Him. Hence, the entire Church is summarily condemned, derided, and dismissed; all her members are found to be naively deluded, at best, and at worst, guilty and complicit in a cover-up.

In contrast, what is the headline that we should concentrate on as we pass from Holy Week into Eastertide? It begins tonight at the Easter Vigil: Alleluia!

That exclamation of Easter joy invites us to consider the truth and reality of what the Church is about. The Church of Jesus Christ is about good news, and her headlines fill the Gospels. So, let us always turn to them and read them! St Matthew's gospel, cited above, leaves us with his punchy attention-grabbing headlines to tell us what the death of Christ effected, and they are so much more sensational than the media's. Christ's death was accompanied by cosmic phenomena, so that as St Ignatius of Antioch said, Jesus "was truly crucified and died, with those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth looking on". Thus, creation itself proclaimed the headlines and sensationally told the good news. And this is news of health, life, peace, reconciliation and goodness to all humanity because of the love of God for all people, shown definitively on the Cross. The gospels proclaim that death is not the end, that sin is ultimately defeated, and that the grave has no hold over us. Rather, we will be raised with Jesus Christ. This is the essence of the good news that the Church proclaims day after day.

St Justin Martyr said that on Holy Saturday, the Lord "remembered his dead ... and He went down unto them to preach to them the good news of His salvation". The Lord still does that today! In every situation where people are dead through sin, or because they have been the victims of sin and evil, the Lord Jesus continues to preach salvation to His beloved people. And He does this primarily in the sacramental actions of His Body, the Church. Many tonight will see and experience the grace of baptism, which joins the forgiven sinner with Jesus Christ so that he or she becomes a child of God, and shares in divine life itself. This is good news! Christ also preaches salvation in the lives and deeds of countless Christians, for raised to new life by His grace and prompted by His Spirit, these members of the Church witness to God's love, compassion and goodness in their lives and extend these to others. This is good news! And finally, in the speech, writing, and art of Christians, Christ's message of salvation is proclaimed. So, Melito of Sardis, in the earliest extant Easter homily, said: "It is He who drew close to you, who cared for the suffering in your midst, and raised the dead". This is good news!

As such, it would be a diabolical tragedy if anyone should refuse to hear the good news and only considers bad news in the Church. It is true and should be acknowledged that this is a reason why any scandal in the Church is so very terrible and evil: as trust has been shattered, it is extremely hard to put one's faith in Christ and His holy Church again. However, we can also become so distracted by the sins and failings of some Christians that we fail to look at Christ himself and at the saving work he has wrought for all of sinful humanity. Thus, we might allow sin to dim the light of faith in our hearts, scandal to extinguish our hope, and outrage to cool our charity. We can be so allured by the glamour of evil and human sinfulness that we seem to revel in bad news. As Easter people, though, let us be taught by the Cross, enraptured by the love of God, enthralled by the beauty of holiness, and glory in His good news. On Holy Saturday, let us imitate Christ and preach salvation to the dead, beginning with the sin that resides in our own hearts, and then, rising with Him, let us share the love and mercy that we have received with others. For such is good news, such is what the Church is about, and such is the 'headline' that we pray will draw the world's attention.

GOOD FRIDAY - The Message of Jesus' Sufferings

Readings: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1:19:42

Any path of spiritual growth, any way of healing and maturing, any wisdom which is worth anything, will have something to say of suffering. We can go further: it will have something to say about the meaning, message, and even value of suffering. This is a difficult one to get right but it is central to the mystery of following Jesus and it can easily be misunderstood. The Christian way at its best is not interested in pain, suffering, and death in ways that are perverted, queer, or odd. Of course it is not always at its best.

The growing pains of adolescence end when our bodies are fully grown. But we continue to grow in our spirits and in our hearts, in our souls and personalities. At least we are called to continue to grow in understanding, compassion, faith, and love. There is no limit to the growth of these things in us. We can refuse to grow and shut down our hearts in cynicism, bitterness or disappointment. That brings its own kind of pain. Or we can respond positively to the call to grow in love and understanding. And that brings pain with it too.

Little surprise then if, on the way of Jesus, we experience 'growing pains', a peculiarly human kind of suffering as we try to find our way through many limitations and difficulties, within and without. We can think of a seedling finding its way through the darkness and many obstacles before breaking through to the light of day. Jesus himself used this image: only if a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies can it bear fruit (John 12:24). And Paul reminds us that we must all negotiate many difficulties before we can enter the kingdom of heaven (Acts 14:22).

The cross never comes in the way we anticipate. If it did, it would not be the cross. So we really suffer deeply because we do not see the point of suffering in this way or in that, or because we do not see the point of it going on so long. Suffering never comes in the way we would have chosen for ourselves. It often attacks precisely those aspects and qualities that we most value. Suffering easily arouses our anger and dismay, fear and disgust. The suffering of others, especially children, makes us especially angry.

Jesus suffered for us and left an example for us to follow the way he took. That way led him through the valley of darkness - Gethsemane and Golgotha - before it took him to Easter and Pentecost. Those who follow him listen for his voice. And his authentic voice speaks, not in the first place of suffering, but in the first place of love. But love also necessarily means suffering. To love is to become tender and vulnerable, to open to the presence of another, to share the burdens and difficulties of another. To love means to open oneself to the possibility (the likelihood, the inevitability) of suffering. Those who love truth suffer for the truth. Those who love justice suffer for justice. Those who love peace suffer for peace. Those who love others suffer for others.

To understand Jesus' sufferings we must speak not only of love but also of sin. The career of Jesus takes the road of suffering not just because it is love but because it is love in a sinful world. It has always happened so. It continues to happen so. The biblical authors speak of how the wise and just person excites envy, hatred, and violence in a sinful world. The person of principle excites envy, distrust, and opposition in a society of compromise.

In the difficulties and challenges of life we will be tested to the depths of our being. We can resist the challenge and become stuck on the road. We can turn away and fill our lives with distractions and comforts. Or, with God's grace, we can follow the way of Jesus, hearken to the voice of his love, and throw our human story (sinful and compromised as it is) in with his, so that all might have life and have it to the full.

This is the message of Jesus' sufferings - out of love he gave his flesh for the life of this sinful world. To see this is to know that any share in the mystery of his sacrificial love is a privilege and a strange joy. Christian hope, far from removing us from the reality of sin, suffering and death, enables us to face those enemies of the human race with clarity of mind and confidence of heart.