Report from Americas 2015
Fr. Raúl Maraví, O.Carm.
The geographical region of the Americas covers a vast territory that is rich in its variety of cultures and centuries of history. The Carmelite friars are present and exercising ministry in thirteen different countries, from Canada in the north down to Argentina in the south.
We began 2015 in South America, where along with the Prior General we took part in threeimportant assemblies: the Titus Brandsma General Delegation in Colombia, the Provincial Commissariat in Peru and the Provincial Commissariat in Bolivia. In each of these assemblies we met our Carmelite brothers and with them discussed a number of projects, and talked about the challenges in each different place. In addition, we were able to meet members of the wider Carmelite Family, the cloistered nuns in Peru, Carmelite sisters in Bolivia and Peru, and various groups of lay Carmelites who work very closely with the friars in different evangelisation programmes, especially among the most needy in each of these three countries.
Between the 9th and the 13th of February, 2015, a meeting of the superiors, delegates and bursars of the Americas took place in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The Bursar General, Fr. Carl Markelz joined us for that meeting, which was attended by fifteen friars representing almost all the Carmelite entities of the continent. We were sorry not to have our brothers from Venezuela with us. They were not able to attend because of the difficult economic and social situation in their country, but they sent a report and a series of suggestions to the meeting via email. In the course of the gathering, people spoke about the need for more creative planning with a view to generating local resources, given the aging process and the decrease in economic power of the provinces of origin. The superiors and delegates also had a wide discussion on the problems that are affecting the area of initial formation in the different countries at the moment. They decided for the next three or four years to have an intensive course of integral formation for students in formation and young formation directors in the Americas.
In addition to the fraternal visits, another of our responsibilities is to conduct canonical visitations of the different entities in each geographical area. From the 20th to the 30th of May, 2015, along with Fr. Michael Farrugia, the Procurator General, we visited the Commissariat of the Antilles that includes Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. As part of the visit we spoke individually with each of the solemnly professed members and met with the aspirants, postulants and simply professed students in groups. The visit was quite positive, highlighting the number of new vocations that join the formation programme in this commissariat. There are plans for further canonical visitations in 2016 following the calendar of international commitments in the General Curia.
The only Provincial Chapter to be celebrated in 2015 in the Americas was the chapter of the North American Province of St. Elias which took place from the 8th to the 12th of June. As is the custom, this chapter was organised very well. The days were busy, with a lot of discussions on various projects and a lot of fraternity. The province of St. Elias has responsibility for two important missions, Vietnam and Trinidad.
As a result of a decision by the superiors and delegates of the Americas, the first intensive formation course for students and young formation directors, took place from the 23rd of July to the 9th of August in our retreat house in Lima, Peru. Twenty-three friars from ten countries took part. The participants spent time studying Carmelite saints and spirituality, visiting some poor areas of the city, sharing times of meditation and prayer and enjoying the experience of the fraternity and internationality of the Order.
In a different setting, during the meeting of the Provincials, Commissaries and Delegates of Europe, held in Rome, Italy, in the month of September, we were able to meet with the Prior Provincials of the provinces of Aragon-Castile-Valencia (ACV), Betica (Baet), Catalonia (Cat) (all three in Spain), Italy and Malta, to talk about the future of their missions in Spanish speaking Latin America: the Antilles (ACV), Venezuela (Baet) and Venezuela (Cat), Colombia (Italy) and Bolivia (Malta). The five provincials underlined the importance and urgency of strengthening the joint formation programmes in the Americas. In addition, they expressed their concerns about the structure of the Order that does not help to unite the different small entities in the region. These leaders asked us to develop a project to study the viability of creating one or more General Commissariats in Spanish speaking Latin America.
In conjunction with our Discalced Carmelites brothers, every three years we organise a congress on Carmelite Spirituality, for the O.Carm. and OCD families in Latin America. This time the event was held in San Salvador, and went from the 26th to the 31st of October, 2015. The chosen theme was “Teresa: woman, mystic and prophet: A window of hope for Latin America”. The participants included both Generals, along with 130 others, made up of friars, cloistered nuns, sisters, hermits and lay Carmelites from the seventeen countries in the hemisphere.
In addition to being the Councillor General for the Americas, we are also responsible for the General Commission for Laity and Carmelite Youth, which met in Rome, Italy from the 23rd to the 28th of April. This commission continues its work of communication through an E-Bulletin, and through formation, with a revision of the programme of formation for the Carmelite Third Order, which in turn will be adapted to suit other groups of lay Carmelites. By the same token, we led a meeting of the Committee for Carmelite Schools which was held from the 12th to the 15th of July in Barcelona, Spain, and in which attention was given to the final details for the next Carmelite Schools Congress to be held at the end of April 2017 in Chicago, U.S.A.
We would like to end by saying that in the American continent we find great hope for the future. As we end this short report, we have 181 students in initial formation: 17 in the U.S.A., 63 in Brazil, and 101 in Spanish speaking Latin America. During the year since January we have tried to visit all the formation houses and to encourage the young people who wish to live out their calling to Carmel. May the Lord continue to bless us with more and good vocations.
Report from Africa 2015
Fr. Conrad Mutizamhepo, O.Carm.
‘Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy’ (Ps 126:5)
The year 2015 began on a very positive note. The All Africa Carmelite Leaders and Formators Assembly took place at Boko Spiritual Centre, Dar es Salam, Tanzania. A total of 17 persons attended including the organisers and translation staff. All seven countries were represented: Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Thanks to the Carmelite Sisters of St Therese of the Child Jesus who proved to be great hosts.
Three discussion papers were delivered by Noel Rosas, the Administrative Secretary for Formation and, Conrad Mutizamhepo, General Councilor, with expert translation skills of Miceal O’Neill. Conrad gave the other two papers on the themes: An Appropriate Model of Carmelite Leadership in Africa? Exploring Servant Leadership: Fears and Hopes for the Future; and Forming the Next Generation of Carmelites in Africa: Experiences, Challenges and Hopes.
After the Conference, during January 27 to February 15, 2015, I embarked on my first leg of fraternal visits to Tanzania, Mozambique, and due to unrest in the DRC, had to take a break in Zimbabwe. The second leg of the fraternal visits continued from March 23 to April 23, 2015, which saw me going to Burkina Faso, Cameroun, eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. In all these visits, I felt very privileged as well as humbled to be welcomed in all our houses as a brother.
A general overview of my observations fall into three categories: positive aspects, concerns and recommendations. First of all, it is important to point out that there are many positive things happening in Africa. Some of the more significant positive experiences are:
a. Youthfulness: the majority of the African friars are still young, healthy and enthusiastic about living and witnessing their life of consecration;
b. Community life: the overwhelming majority of the brothers are living in community and follow the community horarium;
c. Vocations: all communities in Africa that are putting an effort in vocation promotion work are getting young men to join the Order;
d. Formation: in each of the Carmelite ‘presences’, there are candidates and/or friars undergoing initial formation at various stages. The combined total of solemnly professed friars is about 84; about 105 students; about 20 novices and about 30 pre-novices. There are 23 Carmelite houses which are in a good state of repair, while some brothers live in diocesan parochial houses;
e. Financial Support: the various jurisdictions with oversight of African entities are doing a good job in maintaining them;
f. Programmes of collaboration: these exist in two regional novitiates, in Kriste Mambo for the English speaking Africa and Mbalmayo for the French speaking African Carmel.
While there are many positive aspects to African Carmelite experience, there are also concerns that need to be addressed if we are to build on and consolidate the positive aspects. More thought, in my view, needs to be given to the following issues: a. Leadership:, b. Community life dynamics, c. the Process of Formation, d. Financial self sustainability on African resources, e. Service in the midst of the people, f. Coordinated Carmelite Family Programmes and g. Role of Founding or Supporting Jurisdictions
The concerns and challenges are many. Yet, I believe that they can be addressed. These challenges can be opportunities for growth. But this can only happen through genuine spiritual renewal of each friar and member of the Carmelite Family in his/her personal as well as communal encounter with Jesus the Lord. As has been said by Pope Francis: ‘A person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody’ (EG. 266). So my recommendations are:
1. that the Provincial, Delegate and local leaders continue to facilitate and encourage the spiritual renewal of each member’s encounter with Jesus Christ which will be the springboard of engagement with the particular visions and plans of Carmel in each entity;
2. that entities cultivate participative servant leadership culture and structures;
3. that each entity prioritize initial formation and ongoing formation and try to produce a formation guide for formators integrated within the vision and plan of each entity;
4. that measures be put in place to think on and set up strategies for financial self-sustainability in consultation and dialogue with the supporting Province;
5. that African entities communicate and engage in cooperation and collaborative ventures among both friars and the Carmelite Family in general;
6. that service in the midst of the people of God be diversified to help the Carmelite Family to prepare for other forms of service other than parish-based ministries. Each entity would need to reflect on their engagement and training in ‘sign of the times’ ministries in keeping with world-human issues;
7. that Carmelites engage in activities to popularize Lay Carmel and popular piety incorporating devotion to the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel;
8. that entities implement the General Chapter Resolution on the creation of Safe Environment for Children and Adults as a matter of urgency in keeping with the Pope’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy to ensure that abuse does not take place in places where Carmelites inhabit.
During September 15-18, I was invited to participate in some sessions of the meeting of European Provincials and I raised some of these issues with them. I am convinced that Carmel is capable of adapting to the African terrain and can take root. There is need for the spirit of Carmel’s appropriation of and witness to the Gospel to be inculturated in Africa. It is our enduring challenge for African Carmelites to evangelize our cultures in order to inculturate the Gospel through joyful Carmelite witnessing. The labours of sowing the seed of Carmel in Africa may prove to be slow. But as the Psalmist says: Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! (Ps 126:5). I am convinced that the efforts of so many since the last half of the 20th century and into the 21st century have not been in vain. Carmel will grow in the African soil, in the hearts of the consecrated and the people of God.
Ongoing Formation Course for Young Carmelites in Indonesia
Fr. Joseph Tri, O.Carm.
Aware of the wide range of expectations which newly ordained Carmelites face and of the unique adjustment demanded by the transition from initial formation to daily ministry, the General Commission of Formation, together with the Province of Indonesia, organized an ongoing formation course for newly ordained Carmelites from November 16-21, 2015. This included the men who are from 1-5 years in ministry and in the region of Asia - Australia - Oceania. The ongoing course served as an effort to help the younger Carmelites to know each other in the region, to share their experiences, difficulties, and challenges from the threshold of initial formation to ministry life, and to dream for the Order as they continue their journey as future leaders of the region. The gathering was guided by the theme: Nurturing the Carmelite Vocation in the Year of Consecrated Life.
Thirty eight newly ordained Carmelites, from Indonesia, the Philippines, India, East-Timor and Vietnam gathered in the Magdalena Postel Retreat Center run by Misericordia Sisters, Malang, Java province, Indonesia.
This one-week course began with the Eucharistic celebration presided by Fr. Ignasius Budiono, O.Carm., Prior Provincial of the Indonesian Province. In his homily, Fr. Ignasius underlined the importance of ongoing formation after ordination not only to have up-to-date knowledge with the modern world, but also to be renewed in spirit.
In the opening address, Fr. Ignasius welcomed all the participants and wished them to take these days not only to study but also to refresh themselves from ministry. Fr. Benny Phang, General Councilor of Asia-Australia-Oceania and Councilor for Formation took the opportunity to thank the Indonesian Province and the preparatory and organizing committee for making this course possible.
The keynote speaker Fr. Christian Buenafe, O.Carm, Prior Provincial, of the Philippines, gave the first talk on Finding the Balance in the Tension of Community and Ministry. He shared that this is the reality that every friar must face in his initial ministry. Both of these dimensions can be challenging for the newly ordained because they experience an instant change of lifestyle from study to work, from formation community to pastoral community. However, Fr. Christian shared that if the friar learns how to harmonize and manage these dimensions well, it will be very beneficial for the friar himself, for the community, and for those he is serving.
On the second section of the first day, Father Wayne Stanhope, O.Carm, Formation Director from the Australia-East Timor Province, invited all the participants to share concerns and struggles between community life and ministry and their experience of how to harmonize these two dimensions. He also shared that only contemplation can help us to harmonize these dimensions. He stated that “we should never forget that people expect us to teach them how to pray and walk with them as companions. Therefore, it is so sad when Carmelites engage in their mission with a very little contemplative heart.”
On the second day, after the Eucharist celebration, Fr. Noel Deslate, Ph.D., a diocesan priest from the Philippines and a director of Galilee Institute, which is dedicated to helping priests and religious with problems, came to speak about Boundaries and Intimacy in Ministry. Fr. Noel gave some guidelines to help participants how to be aware of their sexuality and the need for healthy intimacy in the environment of ministry. Following the talk, the participants were divided into small groups for discussions.
In the afternoon of the second day, Fr. Robert Puthussery, O.Carm., Prior Provincial of St. Thomas Province of India, gave the presentation, Consecrated Religious in the Midst of the People. He used a message from the teachings of Pope Francis for the year of consecrated life to remind the participants that their religious life is to “wake up the world,” and “we can’t accomplish this mission if we forget our identity as religious. Being religious means our hearts totally belong to God.”
On Friday, after the Morning Prayer, Fr. Stephanus Buyung, O.Carm., Director of Marian Center based in Jakarta, Indonesia, helped the participants to deepen their understanding of the gift of contemplation. He invited young Carmelites to reclaim and nurture the contemplative gift in today’s world. Contemplation is a gift from God. He stated, “The first hermits of Carmel passed it down to us, our duty is to live, develop, and share it.” “Contemplation is the heart of Carmelite life. This heart keeps us functioning. We can’t live our fraternity, prayer, and mission without being contemplative people.”
In the afternoon, Fr. Benny Phang, O.Carm., challenged young friars to accept their role as future leaders of the Order as well as the Church. His talk, Building Theotokoi Community: Carmelite Lifestyle in the Changing World, highlighted the issue of how young Carmelites live with the challenges of our time. The name of Carmel is highly associated with deep spiritual life. “Carmelite saints show us that Carmel is the school of prayer. Our community must be a school for us to learn how to experience God so we may share this gift with those we serve. The lifestyle of Carmelites must be contemplative.”
At the whole duration of the course, all participants enjoyed the fraternal hospitality of the Carmelites of the Indonesian Province. The ongoing formation course was a mixture of study, prayer, group discussion, recreation, and fraternal sharing. Thanks to the preparation team who had created much space and time for prayer and reflection as well as for the participants who were able to get to know one another. The participants also had the opportunity to wash one another’s feet, as a symbol of service, as they were led in prayer by Fr. Wayne. Cultural nights and other activities followed as all representatives shared their cultural richness. They also enjoyed a day trip to visit Batu Secret Zoo and some museums in Malang.
The gathering was concluded with a Eucharist presided by Fr. Benny Phang, O.Carm., with the participation of the Carmelite Novices and Suara Musik Suci Choir. All participants were happy to have this gathering. They were grateful to the General Commission for Formation and the Indonesian Province that hosted it. They did not forget to thank for the hard work of the preparatory committee that made this gathering successful and fruitful. They also expressed their deep gratitude to all facilitators. They went home with renewed energy and new hope about their lives and about their ministries. They arrived strangers to each other and they left for home as friends and brothers and are looking forward to their next gathering!
Carmelite Support for the Paris Agreement
Having discussed the document with Fr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O.Carm., an expert in variations of climate and climate change, the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm., on behalf of the Carmelite Order, signed the Interfaith Climate Change Statement which will be given to the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Mogens Lykketoft, in New York, this coming 18th of April. The statement insists on the necessity to follow up on the statements and proposals of the Paris Agreement in relation to ecology and the integrity of creation. Several religious leaders signed this document which underlines the importance of the moment in which we live and the need for a serious commitment on the part of the political leaders, as well as the great religious families in this matter. The document may be read (in English, in French and in Spanish) at: http://www.interfaithstatement2016.org/).
We note that the Carmelite ONG at the United Nations took an active part in the Climate Summit in Paris (COP2) which took place in December, 2015. At that summit, the participants produced the “Universal Agreement on Climate Change”.
Twenty Years of Karit, the Carmelite NGO
On the recent 10th and 11th of April, an extraordinary assembly of the “Karit – Solidarios por la paz” NGO, to place in the parish hall in Ayala, Madrid, to mark the 20th anniversary of its foundation. The guests included the Prior General, Fernando Millán Romeral, the Councilor General for Europe, John Keating, the Superiors General of the Spanish Carmelite Congregations of women (Sr. Carmen Aparicio and Sr. Rosario Gonzalez) and the provincials of the three provinces in Spain, (Francisco Daza, O.Carm., Manuel Bonilla, O.Carm., and Luis Gallardo, O.Carm.). Both the President of Karit, Fr. David Oliver, O.Carm., and the Secretary, Sr. Arlyn Medina Vazquez HVMMC, expressed their thank for the presence of so many Carmelites (lay and religious) from many different places.
After the presentation of the history of Karit with the aid of a photo montage, the Prior General spoke about justice and peace and the Carmelite charism. Following that, there was the launch of a publication for this anniversary called “20 by 20”. As well as that the assembly made an evaluation of the work of Karit and of the projects that it is guiding and supporting in different parts of the world.
Karit is defined as a Carmelite NGO, in the service of development, sponsored by the Iberian Region, and in connection with other Christian oriented NGOs. Along with the work of awareness-raising and formation, Karit executes projects in needy places all around the world, mostly where there is a Carmelite presence. It also promotes the work of volunteers (which helps to keep expenses at a minimum) following its own motto, “Con poco, mucho” (A little goes a long way). CITOC would like to congratulate Karit for twenty years of fruitful service to those most in need.
Lectio Divina April 2016
The Pope`s Prayer Intentions for April 2016
Universal: Small Farmers - That small farmers may receive a just reward for their precious labor.
Evangelization: African Christians - That Christians in Africa may give witness to love and faith in Jesus Christ amid political-religious conflicts.
Lectio Divina April - abril - aprile 2016
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The Gift of Silence, Solitude and “The Cell”
Kathleen Richardville, TOC (Florida)
Recently retired, I drop off my granddaughter at my parish's Catholic school. Morning mass in my own parish church conflicts with the school start time, so, finding another church with a mass schedule that fits the time constraints, I drive across town and join the obvious “regulars” who know each other and are a small community within this parish. Because the newly built church is so large, daily mass is held in a central space created in the original church—now a combination of offices, a side chapel dedicated to Eucharistic adoration, a small kitchen and this central space with chairs and altar. It is very simple and intimate... like a small series of “cells.” To my heart, very Carmelite.
Comfortable, cozy... a family around the table to welcome Him in wonder and awe, to ponder the mystery of the Three in One present in a mystical union of Love, to accept the immersion of that Love into our own self and soul. The cell of the host, the cell of the soul, the cell of the mystical body of Christ. From the table, the priest places the hosts into the pyx of each parishioner sent forth to shut-ins... the cell expanding, opening wide to the world hungry for Love poured into and through us to the waiting world outside.
A final blessing and song. I join several attendees, silent as shadows, who disappear into the side chapel where the tabernacle awaits, where the candle glows, where the noise of affectionate farewells interspersed with small talk begins to fade, where the door shuts. Silence. Stillness. The veil of time and space disappears and the silence yields what He wills it to be: His breath breathing through mine; His music sung by my soul; His quiet filling my darkness with Light; His gaze penetrating mine; His “All” encompassing my nothingness until this nothing becomes All. I have longed for daily mass and this time alone with Him throughout my entire professional career.
For 43 years of my teaching career, the 30 minute car ride to school and back home in the late afternoon was a cell of silence, a profound awareness that, even if I could not attend morning mass, my heart was a tabernacle of desire where the Beloved manifested Himself to me... a tabernacle alive with His presence at every moment of the day ahead...
There is a silence of wonder and awe and praise in this beyond the telling!
And now, with the luxury of retirement, I attend morning mass and am gifted with the grace of time to return to Him in adoration and “being in Presence”... Such a gift! He gives me Himself in Eucharist; He gives me the gift of time and the cell of this small, silent side chapel to be with Him.. .and then He sends me forth to fulfill His plans for this day.. .And I am aware that now, even as “then” when I saw my cell as a 30 minute period of travel back and forth, the cell of my soul is always Him, entirely Him, forever Him, timelessly and eternally Him.
Our “cell” is not a place or a time. It is our soul within us and at every moment we are in His presence to love, adore, worship, listen, receive and serve.®
“In repentance ana rest is your salvation, in quietness ana trust is your strength."(Isaiah 30:15)
The Opening of the 450th Anniversary of the Birth of St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi
On the 2nd of April, the date of Mary Magdalen’s birth in 1566, the solemn opening of the anniversary celebrations took place at the monastery of Careggi (Forence, Italy), where her body is venerated. The Cardinal Archbishop of Florence, Giuseppe Betori, led the celebration of the Eucharist that was concelebrated by several priests. The concelebrants included, the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, along with other members of the General Curia, the Vice-Prior General, Fr. Christian Körner, the Councilor General for Europe, Fr. John Keating, the Procurator General, Fr. Michael Farrugia, the Bursar General, Fr. Carl Markelz, and the Delegate General for the Nuns, Fr. Mario Alfarano. The Carmelite Family was present in great numbers, with friars from the different houses in Florence and Castellina, the sisters of the Istituto di Nostra Signora del Monte Carmelo, and very many lay Carmelites.
In his homily the Cardinal pointed to the example of the saint in her cultivation of the transforming knowledge of the Risen Lord, just as the readings in the liturgy suggested. He read a telegram from the Pope, signed by the Secretary of State, Card. Pietro Parolin, in which he “joined in thanksgiving to the Lord for giving to the Church such a significant disciple of the Gospel and master of spirituality”. He ended by imparting an Apostolic Blessing and granting the corresponding plenary indulgence.
At the end of the celebration the Prior General thanked all those who were present and in particular the nuns, who, although they are just a small community, continue to keep alive the spirit and teaching of St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi.
Mary and Spirituality
C. O’Donnell, O.Carm.
A phrase like “Marian Spirituality” is enough to make some people uneasy. Is there not just one spirituality, namely Christian? The issue is naot only extremely important but also somewhat complex.
Spirituality
There is a growing literature on the theme of Mary and spirituality.[1] But we need to be alert to several approaches and aspects of the theme. Spirituality is a word that has become quite chameleon:it takes on a different hue when used about various schools or movements identified by a period, place, or institution (e.g. desert, medieval, Dominican, French spiritualities). It is applied to the appropriate response of various stats of life (e.g. single, married,a clerical, religious spiritualities); it can mean a focus on some aspect or revelation of the Church’s life or it can draw attention to the life of some of its members (e.g. Eucharistic, liturgical, liberation, feminist spiritualities). There is also what one might tem “secular” and New Age usages: many people will claim that they are not religious but they do have spirituality.
We would need to look at some modem writers to clarify for ourselves the concept of spirituality and thus be in a position to see what a Marian spirituality might involve. Sandra Schneiders who is a strong proponent of spirituality as an academic discipline with its own identity[2] notes:
Spirituality as a lived experience can be defined as a conscious involvement in the project of life integration through self-transcendence towards the ultimate value one perceives.., when the horizon of ultimate value is the triune God revealed in Jesus Christ and communicated through the Holy Spirit, and the project of self-transcendence, is the living of the paschal mystery within the context of the Christian community, the spirituality is specifically Christian and involves the person with God, others and all reality according to the understanding of these realities that is characteristic of Christian faith.[3]
Basic to Christian spirituality is the response to God’s prior call. Spirituality is experiential and naturally tends to flower in relationships.
There are some preliminary notions that we can clear up immediately. We need to distinguish Marian devotion and Marian spirituality. More than thirty years ago Wolfgang Beinert warned that the crucial issue is to go to the gospel so as to go to Christ and through him to the Father:
Marian devotion has pastoral and existential worth when it reflects this end and is capable of achieving it, we can thus pose the problem of Marian spirituality in this way, which may not please everybody. The formula is this: Marian piety is not identical with devotion to the Virgin; renewal of the later will not automatically renew the former. Marian piety does not in the first place consist of pilgrimages, images, litanies, Marian hymns ... the essence of Marian spirituality is truly found not in the fact that a person prays to Mary, but rather that person prays like Mary. Mary is never the goal but only the model of Christian existence; in that she cannot be replaced.[4]
Here Beinert privileges piety over devotion, and suggests at best that Marian spirituality belongs to pietas as he describes it, rather than to devotion.
The Spiritualities of Mary
We need to make a distinction by the spirituality of Mary and Marian spirituality. With Jesus Castellano Cervera we can speak of a descending Mariology which illuminates her predestination and mission; an ascending Mariology as she moves towards the consummation of God’s plan for her.[5] We examine both the spirituality of Mary and Marian spirituality with the modern lenses of scripture, theology, ecclesiology, liturgy, anthropology; we should also take into account of new directions of John Paul II in Redemptoris Mater, directing us toward the evangelical figure of Mary, her presence in the Church, and her maternal mediation.[6]
When we look at the spirituality of Mary, we see the great themes of election and grace, freedom and response, she is the woman of faith and servant of the Lord; she embarks on a journey that involves light and darkness; she is the contemplative united to the Sprit and to her Son; she is one of the anawtm in solidarity with all peoples, she is indeed la mujer para los demas (a woman for others) in the felicitous phrase of Father Jesus.[7] These themes can be further developed and enriched by contemporary Trinitarian insights.
The idea of the images of Mary[8] can be developed to show how Mary responded to God. We can see her, firstly as God’s servant following the great lines given by Isaiah (42; 49; 50; 53). Like the Servant of Yahweh she was ‘chosen and called by God’; she remains faithful despite distress. If we are invited to see ourselves conformed to the image of the Servant of Yahweh, we can surely see Mary mirrored in this prophetic figure. Her loyalty has led to the enrichment and salvation of all God’s children. Mary is the servant. Service is not a univocal concept today; it is not appreciated our culture. Some kinds of service are acceptable, but the word “servant” is not. One can see parallels between the Christological slavery/service in Philippians 2 and the Annunciation in which Mary declares herself to be God’s slave. (Luke 1:38 reflects Philippians 2:7). One can also compare the use of the word doulos (slave). In Matthew 20:26-28 and Philippians 2:7-8 with Luke 1:38 - doule (female slave); service is thus an important feature of her spirituality.
Secondly, we should also point to her service of the Word. Luke presents her as receiving God’s word, pondering and proclaiming it (see Like 1:28-55, 2:1-20) she is the disciple, even thought the title is not scriptural and Mary can been seen as more than a believer in the gospel texts. Vatican Ii notes: “In the course of her Son’s preaching she received the words whereby, in extolling a kingdom beyond the concerns and ties of flesh and blood, she declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God.” (Mark 3:35 - Luke 11:27-28 - Lumen Gentium 58). There is too the famous statement of St. Augustine: “it counted more for Mary to be the disciple of Christ and to be the mother of Christ.”
Thirdly, she is a woman of faith who believed against odds; we see her faith at Cana and on Calvary (see John 2:5; 19:25-28a), Mary is surely an example of those praised by Jesus: Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe. John 20:29. When we compare the words of Elizabeth and those of the woman in the crowd in Luke we see Mary as a model of faith:
Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb... blessed is she
who believed, (Luke 1: 42, 45),
and
Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you. Jesus said: blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Luke 11: 27-2 8).
As Vatican II so beautifully says Mary embarked at the Annunciation on a “pilgrimage of faith” (Lumen Gentium: 58) from the Annunciation to Calvary, Easter and Pentecost. Her faith moreover was mediated (through Joseph, shepherds, Simeon and Anna, Jesus at the age of 12 and later in his public ministry - see Mark 3:31-34) she learns God’s plan for the infant Church through Peter (Acts 1:12-20) she does not understand, but ponders (see Luke 1:29, 2:23; 2:50; with 2:19, 51).
Fourthly, with many contemporary exegetes we can see in Luke 1-12 the spirituality of the anawim[9] the privileged little ones (see Luke 9:48, with 1:48 and Matt 11:25) Finally we can see her as a woman of the Spirit (see Luke 1:35) overshadowed (see Luke 1:28, 30) and awaiting the Spirit at Pentecost (see Acts 1:14, 2:104).
These images point to the way in which Mary was blessed by God and to her response, namely to her spirituality.
Marian Spirituality
We have seen Mary’s spirituality: now we look at what a Marian spirituality might be. But firstly we need to look a bit more carefully at the notion. Recently Tina Beattie in a short, compressed dictionary article dealt explicitly with Marian spirituality:
Marian spirituality can only be understood as authentically Christian when it is an integral part of the life of faith, it invites the believer to deepen his or her relationship to Christ, to become incorporated into the community of the Church, and to seek a harmonious balance between the active and contemplative dimensions of a faith expressed in prayer and social action.[10]
She notes the difference between East and West
Marian spirituality developed along different lines in the Eastern and Western Churches. While the Orthodox Church still draws on the early tradition to represent Mary as an iconic maternal figure who communicates awe and compassion, humility and glory, Western spirituality has reflected cultural and historical influences so that devotion to Mary bears the marks of evolving and sometimes contested beliefs and practices.[11]
The difference between East and West is even more significant. The East does not evidence
the split between theology and spirituality so frequently deplored by Karl Rahner and Hans
Urs von Balthasar.
In general one can say that Eastern theology is characterized by a tight union (stretta unione) between spirituality and dogma, so that spirituality is the vision from within the dogma, whilst dogma is the normative expression of spirituality: dogma without spirituality would be ideology and spirituality without dogma would be pietism.[12]
The recent ARCIC statement concurs:
In the late Middle Ages scholastic theology grew increasingly apart from spirituality. Less and less rooted in scriptural exegesis, theologians relied on logical probability to establish their positions and Nominalists speculated on what could be done by the absolute power and will of God. Spirituality, no longer in creative tension with theology emphasized affectivity and personal experience, in popular religion, Mary came widely to be viewed as an intermediary between God and humanity, and even a worker of miracles with powers that verged on the divine, this popular piety in due course influenced the theological opinions of those who had grown up with it, and who subsequently elaborated a theological rational for the florid Marian piety of the Late Middle Ages.[13]
We can look more closely at Marian spirituality beginning with contemporary liturgy. In the
1986 collection of votive Masses in honor of our Lady there is available General Introduction with draws on Marialis Cultus and liturgical texts to speak of the union of the worshipper with Mary.[14] One of the Masses “Mary, Mother and Teacher in the Spirit,” is based on the Carmelite feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.[15] Here there are two main ideas: Mary is model for Christian holiness and she is Mother who draws us on that way.
Many Spiritualities
We have mentioned earlier the multiplicity of spiritualities. Where then does Marian spirituality fit in? But first we need a word about how spiritualities differ. All Christian spiritualities will have common elements: sacraments, especially Baptism and Eucharist; the word of God, prayer, faith, hope, and love, both of God and neighbor. The difference lies not in that one spirituality will have faith and another substitutes hope. The one mystery of Christ, which is a sharing in the life of the Trinity through grace in faith, hope, and charity, is found in a variety of spiritualities, all of them based on the one New Testament revelation. All genuine spiritualities must have the whole of Christian doctrine in an ordered and holy life. But the emphasis will differ, Carmelite spirituality emphasizes prayer, Mary, and the word of God, more perhaps than other spiritualities. Franciscan spirituality has a major focus on poverty and on the humble humanity of Jesus.
To understand how spiritualities are all the same and all different, the best analogy may be from life. We will recognize as being “American” three citizens of the United States who are of different ethnicity. Each will have the same limbs, the same bodily functions, and so forth, but they can be identified both as Americans and as members of their different ethnic groups. The elements are all the same, but the order, the balance, the emphasis will be subtly different. Another example might be yard full of building materials: hundreds of cubic feet of similar blocks, hundreds of square feet of timber, and hundreds of feet of wire, pipes, etc., three builders could take the same materials, even perhaps the same amount of materials, and build very different single story bungalows, each having living space, kitchen plumbing, and two bedrooms, one might have two bedrooms the same size, another might have one large bedroom and a smaller one; the same for the living space related to the kitchen. We would not identify the different houses seeking what extra materials were used in one rather than another. The structure and order would be different.[16]
But such considerations about the various spiritualities do not fully apply when we look at Marian and other spiritualities. There is a significant, but often overlooked essay written in 1960 by Hans Urs von Balthasar where he argued that Marian spirituality underlies all others.
A spirituality centered on the attitude exemplified by Mary, is... not just one spirituality among others. For this reason, although Mary is an individual believer and, as such, the prototype and model of all response in faith, she resolves all particular spiritualities into the one spirituality of the bride of Christ, the Church. What we learn from Mary, a lesson valid for all times, is that the response of the Handmaid of the Lord to the Word working in her all his will in such a special an unique manner—is not just one particular theme in theology. What is special in Mary’s spirituality is the radical renunciation of any special spirituality other than the overshadowing of the Most High and the indwelling of the divine Word... The idea of making Marian spirituality one among other is, therefore, a distortion.[17]
The paradigm of all response to God is thus a Marian one. Balthasar is asserting that any authentic spirituality will therefore be Marian, even if this is not explicated. To be Marian or not is scarcely an option for a genuinely Christian spirituality. If we look at what would commonly be called particular spiritualities, we see that though each has a focus, the whole of any spirituality is really an articulation of Mary’s total “yes,” patterned on her expression of life of the Trinitarian and the practical implications of this foundational response to God’s Word. These are indications in contemporary thought which suggest that authentic spirituality must be Marian. To grasp fully Balthazar’s meaning here we should remember that in the 1960’s he saw the Church as having a Marian and a Petrine dimension. Later he moved to seeing the Church constituted by four founding figures: Peter (institutional), Paul (missionary), John (contemplative/mystical) and James (law and tradition). Mary was not on the same level, but above these, giving each of them their meaning and vitality.
Marian spirituality will always reflect a particular time and culture. Thus in the later Middle Ages, Mary was no longer seen as the majestic maternal presence of the early medieval Church, but as a tender and compassionate mother. In the years following the Black Death, images such as the mater dolorosa and the pieta suggest an association between the suffering of the people and the suffering of the mother of the crucified Christ.[18]
Marian spirituality means adopting a set of values, attitudes, and activities that help us to respond to God’s plan for us and to insert us into the relationship with Mary that Christ wants for us.[19] The concretization of the elements of such spirituality will again reflect times and cultures. It will demand contemplation of her, as well as communion and identification. It will involve taking up the characteristic of her life. In the language of Fr. Jesus, it should give rise to an epiphany of Mary in the life of the Church, so that we too bring forth Jesus in the Church.[20]
Marian Mysticism
We begin with Spain and its golden age of Mary and of mysticism. There are many excellent studies on Mary in the works of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. In Mariology as in may other respects, St. Teresa of Avila entered into an existing heritage which she mad her own and developed. After her mother’s death she dedicated herself to Mary (Life 1:7). She constantly refers to her own wearing of Our Lady’s habit. She had mystical experiences in which Mary appeared to her (Life 33:14). She advised imitation of Mary, a theme already abundantly developed in the medieval period. Her notion of prayer as friendship and intimate relationship (Life 8:6) is reflected in her Marian devotion. An important feature of her piety is her very strong and close bond with St. Joseph. She also adopted an older practice of seeing Mary as the true prioress of the community (Relaz. spirit. 25) St. John of the Cross, however does not mention Mary very often in his extant writings, but the references are highly significant: Mary is the supreme contemplative (Ascent 3:2, 10); the Incarnation is pondered through the mind of the eternal Trinity and through the eyes of Mary (Romance on the Incarnation).
There were also many other Carmelites writing on Mary in the period 1550-1650. There were some more original writers as in the Zaragoza Monastery of the Incarnation (after 1588). There we should note in particular Maria Escobar (d. 1634) who proclaimed herself a slave of Mary and received many mystical graces in and through Mary. It is well known that Cardinal Berulle (d. 1629) who brought the discalced nuns to France from Spain in 1604, failed in his attempt to impose the devotion of slavery to Mary on them. This theme in post-Reformation Carmelite Mariology deserves further study; it certainly antedates the “True Devotion” of St. Louis Grignon de Montfort (d. 1716).
In the Low Countries we have the important Marian mystic, Maria de S. Teresa Petijt (d. 1677) and her director the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine (d. 1684) whose mysticism has been described as “contemplative life of God in Mary and of Mary in God.” But there is no confusion of the divine and the human: there is indeed union with Mary, but this has its fruition simultaneously in God. The earlier stages of this life, called “Mariform” by Michael, consists in being always alert to Mary and to God, so that one does only what is pleasing to them. This might be said to belong more to the ascetic life, since one can choose to have Mary in view and, with the aid of grace, cultivate a relationship with her, the union with God through Mary, however, is mystical given by God as a special gift.
In Italy we have extensive Marian writing, the Neapolitan Carmelite foundress, the Venerable Seraphina of God, Prudentia Pisa (d. 1699), is yet another with experiences of Marian Mysticism. The writings of St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi (d. 1607) speak frequently about the beauty of Mary and of her purity, but they are more reminiscent of visions of the Mother of God common to other mystics like St Teresa than of mystical union with Mary.
The Carmelite Marian mystics have their experiences not only as special and personal gifts from God, but also in order that they might teach the Church. The Mariform mysticism of Mary Petijt is not something eccentric in the history of spirituality; it teaches the whole Church something important about the journey to God. What may not be explicit in other mystics is very clear in Michael of St. Augustine and in Mary Petijt, namely that divine union comes about through a person becoming more closely clothed with the virtues of Mary, and through her continuing presence and accompaniment. Theirs is the most dramatic and the most sublime expression of the truth continually expressed in all Carmelite Marian writings, namely the motherly presence of Mary accompanies the Carmelite always and growth in holiness is found through opening oneself to her presence and motherly care, the fact that a reading from Michael of St, Augustine I proposed for the Solemn Commemoration of Our Lady of Mount Camel is surely an indication to the Order to reflect on the journey to Jesus through Mary.
Conclusion
In cultivating a Marian spirituality we look to the vision of Vatican II:
In celebrating the annual cycle of the mysteries of Christ, Holy Church honors the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with a special love. She is inseparably linked with her Son’s saving work. In her the Church admires and exalts the most excellent fruit of redemption and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 103).
Our Carmelite way has been marked by looking on the Virgin Mary and Mother of God as Mother, Patroness, Most Pure Virgin, and Sister. These are not only aspects of her life that we imitate, they are the ways she comes to us, and we come to her in a relationship of love; in the end, spirituality is about relationships with God who comes to us as Trinity and who has given us Mary as a way. We come to God not just by imitation being like Mary, but with her who is, as the tradition of the Eastern icons constantly shows, the hodigitria, the one who points the way, this same tradition points to a parallel between the East and the Carmelite tradition: Mary’s protecting veil, Pokrov, finds its western counterpart in the Scapular which in its fullest sense sums up the Marian spirituality of the Carmelite Order.
[1] See S. De Fiores’ heavily foot-noted Maria nella vita secondo lo Spirito, (Casale Monferrato: Edizioni Piemme, 1998) and the useful bibliography attached to Jestis Castellano Cervera, O.C.D. “La espiritualidad manana: Una perspective actual” in B. Coccia ed. In Communion with Mary: Our Heritage and Prospects for the Future. Sassone Seminar June 2001. (Rome: Edizioni Carmelitane, 2003) pp. 105-108.
[2] See Schneiders’ “The Study of Spirituality: Contours and Dynamics of a Discipline,” Studies in Spirituality 8 (1988) pp. 38-57. See also following note.
[3] Sandra M. Schneiders, “Christian Spirituality: Definition, Methods, and Types” in P. Sheldrake, ed. The New SCM Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, (London: SCM, 2005) p.1.
[4] Beinert refers to Marian piety as Frommigkeit and distinguishes it from devotion to Mary (Marienverehrung). Maria heute ehren: Eine theologish-pastorale Handreichung (Freiburg: Herder, 1977). pp. 13-15.
[5] Jesus Castellano Cervera, “La espiritualidad mariana,” p. 77.
[6] Castellano Cervera, “La espiritualidad mariana,” p. 85.
[7] Castellano Cervera, “La espiritualidad mariana,” p. 95.
[8] Christopher O’Donnell, O.Carm. “Images of Mary for Today,” Spirituality 5, pp. 153-156.
[9] See B. Buby Mary the Faithful Disciple (New York—Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1985) p. 71. Buby notes that Luke is the evangelist of the Holy Spirit and of the anawim. Further, see Vatican Il’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 55.
[10] Tina Beattie, “Mary and Spirituality,” New SCM Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, (London: SCM, 2005) p. 424.
[11] Tina Beattie, “Mary and Spirituality”, p. 425.
[12] E.G. Farrugia, “Spirito Santo e teologia orientale” in Dizionario dell’Oriente Cristiano (Rome: Pont. Inst. Orientale, 2000), p. 722.
[13] Mary, Grace and Hope in Christ. The ARCIC Agreed Statement (London—Harrisburg: Morehouse, 2005) n.43, pp. 40-41.
[14] Collection of Masses on the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2 vols: Sacramentary and Lectionary, (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992). Vol. 1, “General Introduction,” n. 13.
[15] Collection of Masses on the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2 vols: Sacramentary and Lectionary, (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992), n. 32. Vol. 1: Mass text 249-25 1, preface n.32, p. 148; Vol. 2: Readings, Pry. 8:17-21, 34-35 or Isa 56:1, 6-7 with Psalm 15 and gospel Matt 12:46-50 or John 19:25-27, or general appendix III, 19- Mark 3:31-35.
[16] See Christopher O’Donnell, O.Carm., “Core Marian Themes in the Carmelite Order” in Carmel and Mary: Theology and History of a Devotion (Washington: Carmelite Institute, 2002), p. 82.
[17] Hans Urs von Balthasar, “Spirituality” in Word and Redemption, Essays in Theology 2 (New York: Herder &
Herder, 1965), pp. 97-98.
[18] Tina Beattie, “Mary and Spirituality” New SCM Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, p. 425.
[19] Tina Beattie, “Mary and Spirituality”, p. 425.
[20] A theme developed by Bi. Titus Brandsma, O.Carm., (d. 1942) in various places, e.g. Carmelite Mysticism:
Historical Sketches, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition (Darien IL: Carmelite Press, 1986), pp. 33-34, 59.
Feast of St. Peter and Paul Apostles - A Time of Festival
S.F. Nolan, O.Carm
Sermon given by S.F. Nolan, O.Carm., in Chichester Cathedral marking the Opening of the Chichester Festivities. Feast of St Peter and Paul Apostles, 29 June, 2008.
Today is a festival day, a day of celebration, a day set aside for singing the praises of God and rejoicing in the giftedness of humanity. And we have many reasons to celebrate. Today is the Day of the Lord, Sunday, the first day of the week. This is the day made by the Lord. We rejoice and are glad. Today we celebrate the beginning of the Chichester Festivities, seventeen days of exuberance in music and art. And today is a festival of the religious calendar, the Feast of St Peter Apostle. Gathered in this cathedral church we salute this day of festival. As God’s pilgrim people gathered in festival, we echo the Easter song, sung down through the ages: Salve festa dies toto venerabilis aevo – ‘Hail thee, festival day! Blest day that art hallowed forever’. (Venantius Fortunatus, sixth century) These are ancient words which in modern times have gained a renewed spring in their step with the music of Vaughan Williams, whose fiftieth anniversary we mark this year.
So, yes, it is right and proper that we should celebrate today and join in proclaiming a time of festival. But is there not a sense in which those of Christian sensibility can find this a difficult thing to do? Christians so often see themselves as exercising a moderating influence. Excess is to be avoided. Propriety observed. A sense of proportion maintained.
As a Roman Catholic, I belong to a tradition which has placed quite an emphasis on rules of fasting and abstinence. As an Irish man I have in my background the ancient Celtic Christian emphasis on penance. Ireland was known in the past as the land of Saints and Scholars. Irish monks did much to spread Christianity throughout Europe. They had a highly developed aesthetic sense, a sense of light and colour as evidenced in the illuminated manuscripts they produced, in themselves wonders of the medieval world. These Celtic Christians had a deep sense of nature, of the beauty of the world around them. Their spirituality was close to nature. One text from the tradition declares: ‘Our God is the God of all humans. The God of heaven and earth. The God of the sea and the rivers. The God of the sun and moon. The God of all the heavenly bodies. The God of the lofty mountains. The God of the lowly valleys. God is above the heavens; and he is in the heavens; and he is beneath the heavens.’ (Bishop Tírechán, seventh century, Collectanea, 26). But these Irish could be a stern lot, given to extreme acts of penance. But even in their austerity, they had a very strong sense of celebrating the Day of the Lord of saluting this day of festival. There was among them a tradition of what was known as ‘welcoming in’ the Sunday. One such prayer of welcome went as follows: ‘Welcome, O Holy Sunday, At your weekly visit to us, Giving us a day and night for answering Christ’ (Quoted in Vincent Ryan, O.S.B., ‘Every Sunday An Easter Sunday’ in Placid Murray, O.S.B., ed. Studies in Pastoral Liturgy (Dublin: Gill, 1967) 192). And in a strange twist in the tale of those famous sixth-century handbooks for Celtic confessors, the Irish Penitentials, those who refused to celebrate the Lord’s day by insisting on continuing a regime of fasting and penance were to be punished. One Irish penitential declares: ‘Anyone who fasts on or ignores the Sunday through carelessness or austerity does a week’s penance on bread and water!’ (Quoted in Leslie Hardinge, The Celtic Church in Britain (New York: 1995) 85).
So to paraphrase those words from the Book of Ecclesiastes beloved of many a preacher: there is a time for everything (Ecc 3: 1-8). Time for austerity and time for feasting and festival. But today I find myself relying in the first place on the advice of a wise mystic from my own Carmelite tradition, St Teresa of Avila, that great sixteenth-century reformer of the religious life, who was, to borrow the words of Evelyn Underhill, a true ‘pioneer of humanity’ (cf. Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness (New York: Dutton, 1930) 133). The story is told of how a friend came to visit Teresa at her convent, bringing with him a brace of partridge. Teresa thanked him and went into the kitchen where she prepared them, and began to eat. One of her fellow sisters came by and asked if it was seemly for a member of an order vowed to poverty and penance to enjoy her food so much. Teresa said, ‘Sister, there is a time for penance, and a time for partridge!’ And she continued to enjoy her meal (cf. Noel O’Donoghue, O.C.D., Adventures in Prayer: Reflections on St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross and St Thérèse of Lisieux (London: Burns and Oates, 2004) 38).
Today and these days of festivity are, therefore, time for partridge, for rich fare. Just glancing at the ‘menu’, the festivities brochure, one is dazzled by the array of musical and theatrical events on offer, the impressive range of speakers from the worlds of current affairs, politics and literature. These are days of imagination. A feast of images and sounds, intended to encourage or perhaps even to challenge us to think imaginatively. The courage to think imaginatively is what we need more and more in our world today. As Christians we need to think ever more openly, creatively, imaginatively. As Christians we are certainly called to be intelligent. To be realistic. To face reality. But really seeing our world requires imagination. Without imagination our intellects and our moral sense can be narrow in their focus. Without imagination Christianity is cold and ineffective and Christian love well nigh impossible. One leading writer on liturgical spirituality warns us: ‘The theologian without a sense of poetry and art can become a mortician’ (Philip H. Pfatteicher, Liturgical Spirituality (Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1997) 23-4).
The Christian liturgy, our Christian worship, undoubtedly preserves the fullness of Christian experience and tradition. The purpose of our worship is to give glory to God in words, in music, in image and in symbol. Art and music, particularly in our time, should also stretch our imagination, test our limits, call us to larger and more inclusive ideas and views. And, in the context of our worship, far from making us turn in on ourselves, art actually intensifies our sense of the world around us. Art pushes us to see beyond the obvious to what lurks in the crevices of the human-divine experience.
So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us think imaginatively. Thinking imaginatively for the Christian involves our being able to look within, to look around and to look beyond. And the arts and the artistic encourage and enable us to do this. Let us think imaginatively of where we are today, in this cathedral church, lovingly restored, in this ancient city of Chichester.
This cathedral is rooted not simply in the ground. It is rooted also in the faith and worship of a community stretching back over many centuries. It reaches down deep into the earth from which we are all made, it rises in faith and embraces all who come to it and lifts the heart and mind to God in worship, music and art. Its cruciform shape reminds us of the cross of Christ firmly planted in the earth its arms embracing all creation but also pointing ever upwards to the heavens, the cross which was once the instrument of death but which becomes the means of life and salvation.
I was captivated by the statue of St Richard by Philip Jackson, cast for the millennium, which stands in the grounds of the Cathedral. As with all holy people, he does not seek to draw attention to himself but rather in a striking and telling pose he points to God, the source and goal of all life.
Art reveals something of God to us. It has the capacity to broaden and deepen our understanding and help us make connections with the divine. Art, if it is good, has the capacity to draw us in to capture our attention to speak to the depths of our being. But it does not stop there. If we are captured or drawn in by a painting or a piece of music we are not simply held on the surface of the canvas or momentarily aware of the sound of the notes on a page, we are moved beyond the here and now and given a glimpse, an insight, into the eternal in what the French organist-composer Olivier Messiaen might call a ‘transport de joie’, an outburst of joy (Olivier Messiaen, L’Ascension: Quatre méditations symphoniques (1933-4), iii: ‘Transports de Joie’).
Art undoubtedly goes to the heart of what it means to be human. It is an expression and celebration of humanity. ‘Art is,’ as G. K. Chesterton declared ‘the signature of man’ (G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, I, 1). In art humanity is at its most creative. In art humanity thinks imaginatively, and thinking imaginatively is immensely powerful if turned to the good. Working for good requires imagination and is itself a kind of art. Thinking imaginatively enables us to be broad-minded and open in the conduct of human affairs, employing the kind of thinking James Joyce describes as a playful ‘two thinks at a time’, making connections and building bridges (James Joyce, Finnegan’s Wake, 583.7). And Mozart, whose glorious music adorns our worship this morning, witnesses to the power of imaginative thinking in the process of musical composition, saying: ‘Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively. I hear them all at once. What a delight this is! All this inventing, this producing, takes place in a pleasing, lively dream.’ (Letter of Mozart cited in Brewster Ghiselin, The Creative Process: A Symposium (1955) 45).
And, for the Christian, art means so much more, is even more transcendental in its significance. While still in the world we see, through art as through a window, into the realm of God. On looking at an Icon of Christ, St John of Damascus was able to exclaim, ‘I have seen the human form of God, and my soul is saved’ (John Damascene, On Holy Images, I).
Let us conclude as we began. Let us salute this festival day, and as we Irish might put it, let us ‘welcome in’ these days of festivity for another year. I would like to end with the words of the Irish poet Brendan Kennelly who sees with a poet’s eye and grasps the cyclical nature of life and the optimism which is part of every human soul. His poem entitled ‘Begin’ ends:
Though we live in a world that dreams of ending,
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.
(Brendan Kennelly, Begin (Newcastle: Bloodaxe, 1999) 104)
