Saint Anthelm

Today on the Carthusian calendar is the feast of Saint Anthelm. A Carthusian monk tells us about him:

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Anthelm of Chignin was born into a noble family of Savoy, France, in 1107. He chose the ecclesiastical state, became a canon and received important prebends and dignities. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, he refused to find his joy in these exterior possessions and human glory. He had a brother who was Procurator at the Charterhouse of Portes. Conversations with his brother when he visited him and with the Prior convinced him of the excellence of Christian abnegation in the monastic life. He asked for the Carthusian habit at Portes in 1135 and soon surpassed the other monks there in the monastic virtues.

This came to the ear of the superior of the Grande Chartreuse, Guigo, who asked the Prior of Portes to send Anthelm to the Mother house, where an avalanche had killed seven of the monks a short time earlier. So it was at the Grande Chartreuse that Anthelm made profession. Under Guigo’s successor, Hugh, Anthelm was made Procurator. He humbly accepted this charge, although he did not feel any attraction to it, and fulfilled his office with much profit for the House without overlooking his own spiritual needs.

When a new Prior was needed, the community, by a unanimous vote, elected Anthelm (1139). As Prior, he rebuilt the Mother house at a site less susceptible to avalanches. But his principal endeavor was the spiritual progress of the community which soon experienced his firmness, tenderness, wisdom and humility. He visited his monks with frequency in their cells and the gentleness of his words filled their hearts with peace. The sick, both in body and soul, had the particular interest of his fatherly care. He had a special gift in providing a remedy for temptations and in animating those who were discouraged. As regards those who were proficient in the spiritual life, he judged them worthy of all honors. He showed to them all the proofs of perfect esteem even going as far as to give them the right of way as they passed by and to stand up in their presence.

It was during his priorate that the wish was expressed by the Priors of the other Charterhouses for a more stable and more structured organization of the Order in the form of an annual General Chapter. Anthelm was open to this and welcomed the first General Chapter at the Grande Chartreuse in 1140. After the foundation by Saint Bruno in 1084, this first General Chapter was like a ‘second starting point’ for our Order.

Humble as he was, he repeatedly asked to be dismissed as Prior. After twelve years, in 1151, he finally obtained this. But as the Prior of Portes had died at that time, the monks of Portes asked Basil, Anthelm’s successor as superior of the Mother house, to send them the latter as their new Prior. Anthelm had to accept this. During his priorate storms destroying the harvest in the region of Portes caused a scarcity of food. Anthelm distributed generously wheat and vegetables from the monastery storage rooms to the farmers. He also came to the financial aid of other monasteries.

Two years later the diocese of Belley, in which Portes is located, needed a new Bishop. The people there strongly wanted Anthelm to become the Bishop. He refused, but to no avail. Pope Alexander III ordered him to accept and ordained Anthelm in 1163. As Bishop he offered great services to the Church. Within the first year of his consecration he launched a reform of the clergy. He defended the rights of the Church against the powerful. A bitter conflict with Humbert, count of Savoy, ended with Humbert asking the holy Bishop’s forgiveness, which the latter granted him with great benignity.

He kept up the same monastic fervor as before. Every year he would withdraw for a few days at the Grande Chartreuse, where he had a cell like the other monks.

Recommending charity and concord to his priests, Saint Anthelm died on June 26, 1178. Because of the many miracles at his tomb he was soon venerated. Today he is the patron Saint of the diocese of Belley, where the cathedral preciously keeps his relics. His feast is kept both by the Carthusians and the diocese of Belley on June 26.

Blessed John of Spain

Today on the Carthusian calendar is the feast of Blessed John of Spain. Here’s what a Carthusian monk tells us about Blessed John:

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Blessed John was born in 1123 in the kingdom of Leon in Spain. At the age of thirteen he left his country for France, both to escape the Moslems and for the purpose of studies. He settled in the town of Arles, in Southern France. At sixteen he felt drawn to the monastic life and entered a monastery in the vicinity. After some years, he heard about the recently founded Order of the Carthusians and their monastery of Montrieux not far away, founded in 1118, five years before he himself was born. Drawn to their austere and entirely contemplative life, he joined the Carthusians there. Once a Carthusian, he was ordained a priest, was named sacristan and eventually — still a man in his twenties — elected Prior. We may assume he was precocious on the natural level, but even more so by the early maturity of his virtues.

The nuns of the monastery of Prébayon in the vicinity, following the Rules of Saint Caesarius of Arles and of Saint Benedict, were so impressed with the fervor of Montrieux under John’s leadership that they asked to be admitted to our Order, which till then had consisted only of monks. The Prior of our Mother house, la Grande Chartreuse, and Superior General of the Order, Saint Anthelm, authorized this. He asked John to adapt the Customs of Guigo, which were our Rule at that time, to the nuns. He did so and this was the beginning of the female branch of our Order.

Various difficulties at Montrieux lead to his retirement from the priorship and he moved to la Grande Chartreuse in 1150. Just then, a noble lord in neighbouring Savoy asked for a monastery of Carthusians on his lands. Saint Anthelm saw in Blessed John the man of Providence. He sent him to make the foundation in Savoy, which was eventually given the name of le Reposoir. There he governed wisely as Prior for some years.

On June 25, 1160 John died, not yet forty years old. Through unusual circumstances he was interred not inside the enclosure, as the custom is, but outside. In fact, during his priorate, two servants of the monastery, having died in the mountains, under an avalanche of snow, had been interred in an inappropriate place, outside the enclosure, for which John had been reproved. To make amends he had made his monks swear that after his death, they would bury him at the same place as the two servants. This, however, permitted John’s tomb — with his renown for sanctity — to become the object of popular pilgrimages. The faithful prayed at his tomb and many miracles occurred in the course of the centuries, particularly cures of malignant fever. In 1864 Blessed Pius IX approved the cult of Blessed John of Spain, venerated since time immemorial.

A Principal Heavenly Patron

Today is the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.  The beautiful artwork for this post is attributed to Jan Provoost, a mid-to-late fifteenth and early sixteenth century Flemish painter. In this piece our Blessed Mother is enthroned beneath a canopy. The Child Jesus is holding a book in His right Hand, perhaps the Sacred Scriptures, while in His left Hand He is holding a Rosary. In the background on the right is a figure enclosed in a garden, symbolizing our Lady’s virginity and chastity. A Carthusian monk is kneeling, apparently to be the recipient of the Rosary. The life of a Carthusian, that of silence and solitude, of both communal and eremitical life, is reflected in the iconography of this painting. The Carthusian is accompanied by Saint John the Baptist, a hermit of the desert. Behind him is the Lamb of God. Also accompanying the Carthusian is Saint Jerome, which symbolizes asceticism. 

In the Statutes of the Carthusian Order we read: “One should note that all our hermitages are dedicated in the first place to the Blessed Mary ever Virgin and Saint John the Baptist, our principal heavenly patrons.” 

An example of Carthusian Profession goes like this: “I, Brother ______, promise stability, obedience, and conversion of my life, before God, His saints, and the relics belonging to this hermitage, which was built in honor of God, the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and Saint John the Baptist, in the presence of Dom ______, Prior.” 

For the Carthusian, Saint John the Baptist is a hermit in the desert, a solitary, and one who is focused on God alone. 

Also in the Statutes of the Order are these words: “John the Baptist, greater than whom, the Savior tells us, has not risen among those born of women, is another striking example of the safety and value of solitude. Trusting not in the fact that divine prophecy had foretold that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and that he would go before Christ the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah; nor in the fact that his birth had been miraculous, and that his parents were saints, he fled the society of men as something dangerous and chose the security of desert solitude: and, in actual fact, as long as he dwelt alone in the desert, he knew neither danger nor death. Moreover the virtue and merit he attained there are amply attested by his unique call to baptize Christ, and by his acceptance of death for the sake of justice. For, schooled in sanctity in solitude, he, alone of all men, became worthy to wash Christ — Christ Who washes all things clean — and worthy, too, to undergo prison bonds and death itself in the cause of truth.” 

And then the Statutes give us something to think about: “And now, dear reader, ponder and reflect on the great spiritual benefits derived from solitude by the holy and venerable Fathers, Paul, Anthony, Hilarion, Benedict, and others beyond number, and you will readily agree that for tasting the spiritual savor of psalmody; for penetrating the message of the written page; for kindling the fire of fervent prayer; for engaging in profound meditation; for losing oneself in mystic contemplation; for obtaining the heavenly dew of purifying tears — nothing is more helpful than solitude.” 

Sancte Ioannes Baptista, ora pro nobis!

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 28, 2015

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First Reading Commentary

The author of the Book of Wisdom identifies himself as Solomon but many scholars believe that the writings are of Greek origin.  Wisdom is often portrayed in Scripture as female in gender evidenced by the use of feminine pronouns.  That may be due to the fact that the Greek word for wisdom is “Sophia”.  Mystically, the Virgin Mary is addressed in her Litany with the Latin words, “Sedes Sapientiæ” -- “Seat of Wisdom”. 

“God formed man to be imperishable” but man’s gift of free will succumbed to “the envy of the devil” sentencing man to death.  But God entered into the world through the Seat of Wisdom to experience the life of man in every facet, even to the point of death.  Christ suffered death on the Cross but in doing so confronted man’s adversary.  He took on man’s eternal sentence and defeated it fulfilling God’s will that man should be imperishable. 

To choose God is to choose eternal life.  Because of free will, however, it is possible to choose the devil and “belong to his company.”  As absurd as that choice sounds, we’re all very much aware of our own weaknesses, and the struggles we go through to not surrender to the temptations that appeal to those weaknesses. 

Without the existence of prayer and penance in one’s life, it’s very possible to not only give in to those weaknesses constantly but also dig a hole that can become too deep to get out of because the pleasures that feeds those weaknesses becomes a god.  The devil can only offer an eternity of condemnation, but he is quite capable of making the deceptive road that leads to it very attractive.

Second Reading Commentary

The opening verse is a little confusing as Saint Paul prays for us to excel in our Christian walk; but when he writes, “and in the love we have for you” almost reads like we are to excel in the love Paul has for us, which doesn’t make sense.  What follows clears it up a little with the words, “may you excel in this gracious act also”; in other words, excel in the love we have for each other using Paul’s love for us as a model, which, of course, is a model of Christ’s love.  The Latin translates more clearly as it reads: “abound . . . in your charity towards us.”  To excel or abound in the Christian faith and all that goes along with it, first and foremost requires a trusting relationship with Jesus Christ. 

In His poverty He wore the crown of thorns in order that we may wear the crown of glory.  He accepted the hatred from His enemies, even though He prayed for them, so that we may know the love of the Father.  He lived in poverty so that we may live in the mansions of His Father’s Kingdom. 

When Paul speaks of equality, certainly this could be applied to temporal goods - those who have much helping those who have little to nothing.  On a spiritual level, however, those with a rich faith, through means of evangelization and living out a life of faith, by the charity of the Holy Spirit, can bring comfort and build up those who struggle with matters of faith.  We are all made in the Image and likeness of God and are called to share in an eternal destiny which promises the riches of the Father’s Kingdom.                

Gospel Commentary

Parish communities, in other words, crowds gather on Sunday for Mass and sometimes crowds will gather for Eucharistic Adoration.  Jesus welcomes us together as His Mystical Body but as also evidenced in this Gospel, Jesus gives His undivided attention to us as individuals as well.  Being in the Presence of Jesus as a community of believers doesn’t require us to be pushing each other in order to get His attention or vie for position.  He loves us communally and individually with a boundless dose of unconditional, perfect, Divine Love.  Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is an inexpressible joy and blessing both communally and individually.  And our community is not limited to those within the walls of our parish church. 

Mass is an eternal event which connects us to every Mass that has ever occurred or will occur in both heaven and earth as well as to every soul because we are the Mystical Body of Christ.  Walls as well as the laws of time and space cannot divide us nor can they disturb the re-presenting of One Supreme Sacrifice.  When looking at a community from that perspective, Jesus loving us as individuals becomes even more mind boggling. 

When Jesus heals the twelve year old girl, He orders her to be given something to eat.  Now ask yourself, which is better: To be physically healed and fed a hamburger, or to continue with a physical frailty and have your soul fed with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ?  Even when given a second chance at life, one should consider how that second chance can be used to grow closer to Jesus. 

Another example for your consideration: Is it better to touch the garment of Jesus and have your physical infirmity healed even though your physical body will continue to decay as the years pass by; or is it more desirable to have your soul touched and healed by Christ’s Eucharistic Self - a soul, by the way, that will live on forever? 

If you have a personal prayer need, there is no better time to ask our Lord than right after receiving the Eucharist.  You will never in this life be more intimately connected to Jesus than right after being fed with His Precious Body and Blood.  Hear the Voice that comes from your soul when He says: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” 

Jesus praises the faith of the woman who touched His garment.  But perhaps a more praiseworthy faith is one that does not despair when a prayer need is not met, but instead simply and submissively accepts that Christ’s perfect and Divine will always is and forever shall be superior to our own.  It is then that our Lord’s words to the woman in this Gospel have a much deeper and intimate meaning: “Your faith has saved you.  Go in peace.”

The Gift of God

Today's post comes from a modern day Carthusian who died in 1987. His name is Dom Jean-Baptiste Porion. He was a monk of La Valsainte Charterhouse in Switzerland.

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Our destiny is to a life of the greatest intimacy with God Himself. This union between the soul and its Creator was established when God raised our first parents to the supernatural state. But by sin, they revolted against God, and the bond between heaven and earth was broken. It needed a man-God to heal that rupture, and it is now, by the Passion and merits of our divine Savior, that we can once again become children of God, and share in the divine life.

We received that life in baptism and, if it is our misfortune to have forfeited that life by sin, our Lord gives it back to us through the merits of His Precious Blood every time we receive absolution.

Now we realize how absolutely essential it is for us to avoid sin if we are to preserve the most precious gift God has given to man. "If you knew the gift of God . . ." (John 4:10). God grant that our Lord’s words to the woman at the well may never become a reproach to us.

All the evils in the world are nothing compared to one sin, for one grave sin robs us of the divine life. In order to understand something of the gravity of sin, think of what it means. What Christian would dare to enter a church furtively and violate the Tabernacle, scattering the sacred Hosts from the dishonored ciborium? Even if we thought of such a thing, would we have the unhappy daring to do it? Surely, even the most lukewarm Christian would not dare to commit such a sacrilege to the Body of our Lord. Yet what does sin in fact do? Does it not banish God from our hearts, and deliver us over to the power of Satan?

Viva et Rotunda Voce

Chanting, Carthusian style, is not only pleasing to the ears when listening to it on a CD, but it can also open wide the temple doors of the soul for edifying interior delights.

Robin Bruce Lockhart, author of, “Halfway to Heaven: The Hidden Life of the Carthusians” devotes a couple of paragraphs in this book to the Carthusian chant. He writes:

“The Carthusian day begins at an hour when much of the world is carousing or just starting to sleep off the excesses of a materialistic day. At 11:45 p.m. the monk rises from his austere bed to say the Little Office of Our Lady, then, leaving his cell, he wends his way through the cloisters to the monastery church. The choir stalls fill up, the professed monks in their white habits, the Novices in their black cloaks. The church is in almost total darkness, the only light coming from the sanctuary lamp and the shaded low lamps in the choir. After a period of deep silence the chanting of the long night vigil of Matins and Lauds begins. The chanting carries, in its cadences, soaring praises of God, then sinks down to lowly supplication. At times it almost seems to break into a sobbing of repentance before pouring itself out in heartfelt whispers of love. The singing, steeped in Gregorian antiquity, has a holiness all its own, and as a sung office proceeds it is impossible not to sense how the fervor of the Psalms takes over, enveloping not only the monks but also the listener in the tribune.”

A “tribune” is a part of the church building used to accommodate visitors who will witness the chanting of the Offices, although permission to enter the Charterhouse is rare.

Robin Bruce Lockhart continues:

“The purity of the Carthusian chant . . . has been jealously maintained for centuries; slower, lower-pitched and less melismatic than the Benedictine chant, it is considered more deeply spiritual by those who have heard both.”

And then follows these astonishing words:

“The seventeenth-century Cardinal Bona, who undertook vast research into liturgy, records that it was the Carthusian chant which Christ recommended in His revelations to Saint Bridget, the patron saint of Sweden.”

And the book finalizes the subject of the Carthusian chant with these words:

“No organ or other musical instrument accompanies the chant, and in his liturgy the Carthusian seems to be projected by its sacred power to a point where eternity meets his temporal existence.” And that particular sentence is footnoted with a personal note from the author: “Even Benedictines, renowned for their singing, with whom I have spoken admit to the greater spirituality of the Carthusian chant.”

Pope Pius XI, wrote in the Apostolic Constitution, Umbratilem, these words: “At fixed hours of the day and night they assemble in the sacred temple, not merely to chant the Divine Office without modulation, as is the custom in other Orders, but to sing the whole of it ‘viva et rotunda voce’ - in lifelike, moulded tones - according to the very ancient Gregorian melodies of their choir books, and with the accompaniment of no musical instrument. How should God Who is so merciful, fail to grant the prayers of those most pious brethren who thus raise their voices to Him in behalf of the Church and of sinners who need conversion?”

Two popular Carthusian chant CD’s on the market are: “In the Silence of the Word” recorded by the monks at Parkminster; and the other is, “Into Great Silence: Office of the Night” which is the soundtrack to Philip Gröning’s movie about life at La Grande Chartreuse. In the former, all the chants are in Latin and the Readings are recited in English. In the latter, the chants are also in Latin and the Readings are chanted recto tono in French. The latter also has a more realistic “as if you were really there” approach to it because various changes in body posture can be heard as well as sounds like the clearing of throats and coughing.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 21, 2015

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First Reading Commentary

For the word “storm” the Latin Vulgate uses the word “turbine” which means “whirlwind” and you’ve probably guessed that from “turbine” is where we get the word “turbulence”. 

This Reading is an ideal opener for this weekend’s Gospel.  We live in an age where weather patterns have seemingly brought the world an increase of violent storms.  But perhaps what plagues our minds even more than uncontrollable winds and water are our personal storms - those problems we face in life that just never seem to go away.  God reminds Job and us Who is the One that can still the turbulence. 

As Christians, we can and should remind ourselves Who is the One that is even more powerful than death.  As we’re looking for our personal storms to be stilled, God is teaching us about His desire for us to be still and have faith as He says: “Be still and see that I am God” (Psalm 45 [46]:11).          

Second Reading Commentary

Allowing oneself to be butchered and nailed to a cross for the sake of love probably seems unreasonable or even maniacal to the human mind.  Although faithful Christians would never use such strong adjectives when speaking of Christ, His level of love is, nonetheless, far beyond human comprehension. 

The only way to defeat an enemy is to confront it.  Every human being that has crossed over that line and confronted death has lost - that is, until God became Man.  Jesus confronted death and death lost.  Our chance at everlasting life was given to us because of death’s everlasting defeat at the Hands of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

As unfair as it seems to be cursed with original sin at birth because of one man’s fall, then we’d have to admit that it’s equally unfair to be offered a chance at eternal bliss because of one Man’s victory.  But who’s complaining about the victory? 

At baptism we experience death, that is, death of the old self but we rise to a new life in Christ.  Unfortunately, the way of our culture indicates that this new life is taken for granted.  But the only way to change our culture is to first change ourselves and be faithful to that new life in Christ.                  

Gospel Commentary

For most of us, as evening draws on, we cross over from our jobs to our life at home.  Given the stress level that many face at their place of business, as well as the possible inclement weather during the trip back and forth, plus traffic jams, the art of defensive driving, and even at home where financial concerns, our children’s grades in school, physical health and a whole closet full of other possible concerns plague our minds, it’s fair to say that we’re not strangers to storms. 

In this Gospel story, a good image to form in your mind is that when you’re in a boat out in the middle of the ocean and the waves are crashing on all sides, there is seemingly nowhere to turn.  What can you do?  The key here from this Gospel is that Jesus is with His disciples in the crowds, He is with them in the boat, and He is with them in the “violent squall”. 

The question asked in this Gospel, “Do you not care that we are perishing,” in our lives can easily be translated into words we have said such as, “Why me Lord” or “Why are You allowing this to happen to me” or “What good could possibly come from this?” 

Jesus is asleep because is He is the Calm in every storm.  Meteorologists tell us that the eye of a storm is the calmest part.  Jesus is our Eye!  We need to acknowledge that Jesus is with us at home, on the job, and on all journeys of life.  And acknowledgment here is not simply an understanding or belief, but instead, efforts have to be made throughout the day to say a little prayer to keep ourselves ever mindful of His Presence. 

A Carthusian monk, Dom Augustin Guillerand, calls this a “movement towards Him Who Is”.  To constantly move towards Christ is to never forget He is there.  And finally, it was also Dom Augustin Guillerand who wrote: “Prayer is the duty of every moment.”  And in this turbulence we call “life,” who could ever question that?