Blair's Conversion

I've just read stories on the RTE and BBC websites confirming Tony Blair's reception into full communion with the Catholic Church. This is surely a sign of hope for the English-speaking Church - we have benefitted enormously in the past from articulate and passionate converts from Anglicanism. I hope and pray that Blair continues this fine tradition.Although I'm sure many bloggers will comment on his failure to uphold Church teaching on life and family issues in his political career, surely, at this time, it is more appropriate to give thanks to the Good Shepherd for bringing another soul into His great flock.

Advent and Penance

Fr Vincent Twomey SVD, a moral theologian and professor emeritus at Maynooth, has spoken out recently (in the excellent magazine of the Divine Word Missionaries: The Word) against the premature celebration of Christmas, pointing out that this effectively bypasses the liturgical season of Advent.

'For historical reasons', Fr Twomey writes, 'that are too complicated to go into here, the Irish Church does not know how to celebrate Advent properly. It should be a time of fasting and prayer, like Lent, though not so rigorous, so that we can truly break into festive joy on Christmas night and sustain it for the following 12 days'. One side effect of this bypassing Advent is that Christmas is often experienced as an anti-climax 'due to the fact that we have anticipated it too early'.

On the whole, I agree with him! There is some hope though, for the Catholic who wants to 'get in the Advent spirit' - the Divine Office! Praying morning and evening prayer every day with antiphons and readings appropiate to the spirit of the season is a great reminder that we are still waiting for Jesus...

Fr Twomey also rightly points out that Advent is a penitential season, hence the purple vestments worn at Mass. People often complain of 'Christmas overload' - maybe Advent fasting then, far from making people miserable, would make Christmas itself more enjoyable for all... Fasting itself seems to be a forgotten practice in the Catholic Church in Western Europe but the following poem (my all-time favourite) by Patrick Kavanagh (right) really hits the nail on the head. My old French teacher used to recite the last three lines regularly (no idea why!) and they've really had an impact on me:

Advent

We have tested and tasted too much, lover-

Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder.

But here in the Advent-darkened room

Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea

Of penance will charm back the luxury

Of a child's soul, we'll return to Doom

The knowledge we stole but could not use.

And the newness that was in every stale thing

When we looked at it as children: the spirit-shocking

Wonder in a black slanting Ulster hill

Or the prophetic astonishment in the tedious talking

Of an old fool will awake for us and bring

You and me to the yard gate to watch the whins

And the bog-holes, cart-tracks, old stables where Time begins.

O after Christmas we'll have no need to go searching

For the difference that sets an old phrase burning-

We'll hear it in the whispered argument of a churning

Or in the streets where the village boys are lurching.

And we'll hear it among decent men too

Who barrow dung in gardens under trees,

Wherever life pours ordinary plenty.

Won't we be rich, my love and I, and please

God we shall not ask for reason's payment,

The why of heart-breaking strangeness in dreeping hedges

Nor analyse God's breath in common statement.

We have thrown into the dust-bin the clay-minted wages

Of pleasure, knowledge and the conscious hour-

And Christ comes with a January flower.

Videos of St Josemaria

There are some very interesting short videos on the official Opus Dei website. They're about two minutes each and focus on a particular theme: Making Christ Known, Looking at the Crucifix, Working for Love. If you can't be bothered with spiritual reading, why not try this twenty first century alternative?!

Home!

I'm finally home for Christmas, after an immensely enjoyable trip to Rome. Fr Hugh in the Irish College (my former curate) was very kind to me out there - he did everything from drawing maps to interpreting papal speeches (in 'real time'!). I was really impressed with the warmth and friendliness of the Irish College. The priests and seminarians that I met there were all very engaging and cheerful - they didn't seem infected with the cynicism that affects many clergy. Even more encouraging, they were all refreshingly normal!

I didn't visit loads of churches this time, but I spent a lot of time in each one I visited. I spent hours in San Clemente (the church of the Irish Dominicans in Rome), being given an expert tour by fr Terence OP, a young priest studying at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. I bought dozens of postcards of the apse mosaic (above) with the intention of building a display in my classroom. It's absolutely full of theology: it portrays Trinitarian theology, ecclesiology (theology of the Church), and soteriology (theology of salvation)... As an example, the spirals of acanthus vines growing out from the 'Tree of Life' include little agricultural scenes, signifying the fact that ordinary lay Christians are drawn into the mystery of salvation as much as priests and nuns:

Rome!

Sorry I've been posting so infrequently lately - I've been mad busy here trying to sort everything out before the Christmas holidays. Anyway, tomorrow I'm off to Rome! Can't wait - I've been once and loved it. This time I'm staying in the Irish College in Rome, thanks to the kindness of a former curate in my home parish.

I'm really looking forward to visiting the church of San Clemente again with its beautiful mosaic:

... and its amazing underground basilica, discovered by Joseph Mullooly OP 150 years ago this year!: