It is Consummated

To conclude the month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, two Carthusians are featured: first, Dom Antonio de Molina, a Spaniard who was Prior at Miraflores; and Dom Heinrich Eger von Kalkar, Prior at both Cologne and Strasburg.

He loved them unto the end. ~ Saint John 13:1

It should be noticed that the Evangelist does not say that the soldier struck, tore or wounded the Side of Jesus, but that he opened it. He uses this expression to make us understand why Our Lord chose to receive this thrust. By opening to us His Breast, Jesus wished to reveal to us the very great love with which He burns for us, and to show us all that He has suffered, He has suffered because His Heart was wounded with love of souls; and to prove this, He has had His Heart opened and left always open, so that, through this wide door, we may reach the centre of His Heart, and find a place of refuge in temptations and dangers. It was thus that all those who escaped the deluge found safety by entering through the opening Noah had made in one of the sides of the ark.

The rock in the desert, wounded, so to speak, by the rod of Moses, poured out such a copious stream of water that it was sufficient to quench the thirst and supply all the needs of the Hebrew people. In like manner, the true Rock, which is Christ, was struck and wounded by the soldier's lance; and from the Side, and from the open Heart, sprang a divine stream, whence flow the Sacraments, like seven fountains always full of graces and salvation for souls.

Consider also that the Blood and Water which flowed from the Side of Jesus, could come out only by a miracle. The blood stops and congeals immediately after death, and a corpse bleeds no more, whatever wound is made in it; much less does there come out real and natural water like that which fell from the Side of Jesus Christ. This is then a great mystery, and here is the interpretation of it. The Divinity nevertheless remained united to it and imparted to it another life, a divine existence of which it made use to shed the little Blood which remained within it, in order to show us that His love made Him give even this last drop, hidden at the bottom of His Heart, where neither scourges, nor thorns, nor nails, had been able to penetrate.

When a man empties his purse, he shakes the bottom of it to be sure that nothing remains there. Jesus has done this with His Heart.

Dom Antonio de Molina


At the conclusion of this month, O most merciful Jesus, I offer myself to Your Majesty and Your Goodness, and humbly commend myself to You. By all the Wounds of Your Body, by each drop of Your Precious Blood, by the infinite tenderness of Your Heart, I beseech You to receive me into Your favour and to deliver and preserve me from all sin. May my soul be united to You, O my God, by the most perfect, most fervent, most faithful and unceasing love, so that, with all my heart and from the depth of my soul, I may love You, seek You, desire You, praise and bless You, in all things and above all things. O sweet Jesus, my God, may I think but of You, desire but You, know and enjoy but You; may I be attached inseparably to You only; may I spend my whole life and all the powers of my body and soul in praising, honouring and serving You!

Dom Heinrich Eger von Kalkar

The Twin Light of the Eyes of the Body

On this Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, here is an appropriate homily by Saint Leo the Great.

When the twelve Apostles, after receiving through the Holy Spirit the power of speaking with all tongues, had distributed the world into parts among themselves, and undertaken to instruct it in the Gospel, the most blessed Peter, chief of the Apostolic band, was appointed to the citadel of the Roman empire, that the light of Truth which was being displayed for the salvation of all the nations, might spread itself more effectively throughout the body of the world from the head itself. What nation had not representatives then living in this city; or what peoples did not know what Rome had learned? Here it was that the tenets of philosophy must be crushed, here that the follies of earthly wisdom must be dispelled, here that the cult of demons must be refuted, here that the blasphemy of all idolatries must be rooted out, here where the most persistent superstition had gathered together all the various errors which had anywhere been devised.

To this city then, most blessed Apostle Peter, you do not fear to come, and when the Apostle Paul, the partner of your glory, was still busied with regulating other churches, entered this forest of roaring beasts, this deep, stormy ocean with greater boldness than when you walked upon the sea. And you who had been frightened by the high priest's maid in the house of Caiaphas, had no fear of Rome the mistress of the world. It was the force of love that conquered the reasons for fear: and you did not think those to be feared whom you had undertaken to love. But this feeling of fearless affection you had even then surely conceived when the profession of your love for the Lord was confirmed by the mystery of the thrice-repeated question. And nothing else was demanded of this your earnest purpose than that you should bestow the food wherewith you had yourself been enriched, on feeding His sheep whom you loved.

Your confidence also was increased by many miraculous signs, by many gifts of grace, by many proofs of power. You had already taught the people, who from the number of the circumcised had believed: you had already founded the Church at Antioch, where first the dignity of the Christian name arose: you had already instructed Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, in the laws of the Gospel message: and, without doubt as to the success of the work, with full knowledge of the short span of your life carried the trophy of Christ's cross into the citadel of Rome.

Then came also your blessed brother-Apostle Paul, the vessel of election, and the special teacher of the Gentiles, and was associated with you at a time when all innocence, all modesty, all freedom was in jeopardy under Nero's rule. Whose fury, inflamed by excess of all vices, hurled him headlong into such a fiery furnace of madness that he was the first to assail the Christian name with a general persecution, as if God's Grace could be quenched by the death of saints, whose greatest gain it was to win eternal happiness by contempt of this fleeting life. Precious, therefore, in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints: nor can any degree of cruelty destroy the religion which is founded on the mystery of Christ's Cross. Persecution does not diminish but increase the Church, and the Lord's field is clothed with an ever richer crop.

And over this band, dearly-beloved, whom God has set forth for our example in patience and for our confirmation in the faith, there must be rejoicing everywhere in the commemoration of all the saints, but of these two Fathers of excellence we must rightly make our boast in louder joy, for God's grace has raised them to so high a place among the members of the Church, that He has set them like the twin light of the eyes in the body, whose Head is Christ. About their merits and virtues, which pass all power of speech, we must not make distinctions, because they were equal in their election , alike in their toils, undivided in their death. But as we have proved for ourselves, and our forefathers maintained, we believe, and are sure that, amid all the toils of this life, we must always be assisted in obtaining God's mercy by the prayers of special interceders, that we may be raised by the Apostles' merits in proportion as we are weighed down by our own sins.

Franz Liszt: The Blessings of God in Solitude

Firm, Tender, Wise and Humble

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

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.

The man of Providence

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

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.

You knit me in my mother's womb

This reflection was delivered three years ago on the Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist by the Pontifical Household Preacher, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap. He uses the Readings proclaimed on this solemnity to touch on a very serious problem of today’s culture. Here’s an excerpt:

This is an ancient feast that goes back to the fourth Century.

The devotion to John the Baptist spread rapidly and many churches throughout the world were dedicated to him. There have been twenty-three popes who have taken his name. To the last one, John XXIII, the phrase from the fourth Gospel has been applied: ‘There came a man sent by God and his name was John’. Few know that the seven musical notes -- do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti -- have something to do with John the Baptist. They are derived from the first seven syllables of the first strophe of a liturgical hymn composed in his honor.

The passage from Sunday's Gospel Reading talks about the choice of the name John. But what we hear in the First Reading and the Psalm is also important. The First Reading, from Isaiah, says: ‘The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name. He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me’.

The Psalm returns to this idea, namely, that God knows us from our mother's womb: ‘Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb . . . When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth. Your eyes foresaw my actions’.

We have a very reductive and juridical idea of the person that causes a lot of confusion in the debate over abortion. It seems that a child acquires the dignity of a person only when this is recognized by human authorities.

For the bible the person is he who is known by God, he who God calls by name; and God, we are assured, knows us from our mother's womb, His Eyes saw us when we were still being fashioned in the womb.

Science tells us that in the embryo the whole human being who will be is becoming, projected in each tiny detail; to this our faith adds that what we have is not some unknown project of nature but a project of the creator’s love. Saint John the Baptist's mission is entirely traced out before his birth: ‘And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways’.

The Church holds that John the Baptist was already sanctified in his mother’s womb by the presence of Christ. That is why she celebrates the feast of his birth. This gives us an occasion to touch on a delicate problem, which has become acute today because of the millions of babies who, above all because of the frightening spread of abortion, die without receiving baptism. What are we to say of them? Are they also in some way sanctified in the womb of their mother? Is there salvation for them?

My answer is without hesitation: Certainly there is salvation for them. The risen Christ says of them too: ‘Let the children come to me’. According to an opinion that has become common since the Middle Ages, unbaptized children go to limbo, an intermediate place in which there is no suffering nor is there the enjoyment of the vision of God.

But what we have here is an idea that has never been defined by the Church as a truth of faith. It was a hypothesis of theologians that, in light of the development of Christian conscience and the understanding of Scripture, we can no longer maintain.

When I expressed this opinion of mine a while ago, there were various reactions. Some expressed their gratitude to me for taking this position which lifted a weight from their heart; others reproved me for abandoning the traditional doctrine and minimizing the importance of baptism. Now the discussion is closed because the International Theological Commission, which works for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published a document in which they affirm the same thing.

I think it would be helpful to return to the question in light of this important document so as to explain some of the reasons that brought the Church to this conclusion.

Jesus instituted the sacraments as the ordinary means of salvation. Therefore, they are necessary, and those who, though able to receive them, refuse or neglect to receive them against their conscience, put their eternal salvation in serious jeopardy. But God is not bound by these means. He can also save by extraordinary means, when the person, by no fault of his own, is deprived of baptism. He did this, for example, with the Holy Innocents, who also died without baptism.

The Church has always admitted the possibility of a baptism of desire and a baptism of blood, and many of these babies have certainly known a baptism of blood, even if of a different nature.

I do not think that the Church's clarification will encourage abortion; if it did, it would be tragic and we would need to seriously worry, not about the salvation of the unbaptized children, but of the baptized parents. It would be making fun of God.

This clarification will give, on the contrary, some ease to the believers who, like everyone, are dismayed in the face of the terrible fate of so many children in today's world.

Let us return to John the Baptist. In announcing the birth of the child to Zechariah the angel says to him: ‘Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son who you will call John. You will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth’ (Luke 1:13-14). Many did indeed rejoice at his birth if, twenty centuries later, we are still here to speak of that child.

I would like also to convey those words to all the fathers and mothers who, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, are expecting or experiencing the birth of a child: You too can have the joy and gladness in the child God has entrusted to you and rejoice in his birth your whole life long and for eternity!

Vigil of the Birth of the Baptizer

O house of Zachary greeted with a voice

The barren one’s infant leaps in her womb

Reproach removed, thy child doth rejoice

‘Tis the Ark, carrying the Victor over the tomb

Elizabeth, thy husband at the altar of incense

Met with great fear the angel hailed as Gabriel

Zachary, thy prayer has been heard, hence

Your wife bears a son, thinkest thou surreal

Armed with the spirit and power of Elias

His voice in the wilderness will cry for penance

More than a prophet, your son, and pious

Thy disbelief has reduced thee to silence

O priestly voice cut off from the outside world

Hear the inner Voice of God speaking to thee

His plan of salvation is about to be unfurled

Thy son preparing the way for this mystery

At thy house is the blessed who has believed

For three months she will stay with thy wife

She too, although a Virgin, has conceived

And she shall bring forth the Bread of Life

O house of Zachary thy kindred greets thy son

Circumcised before witnesses more than a few

Isaias foretold of this child of God’s creation

The dividing line of Testaments Old and New

What shall he be called, a kinfolk’s name no less

Zachary, the name given to his father the priest

Nay, the pronouncement of angelic lips: Ioannes

His name be, on locusts and honey shall he feast

Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, Zachary speaks

For salvation from our enemies is made present

Ninety-nine may be safe, but one lost He seeks

Whether that be man or woman, rich or peasant

You, my son, prophet of the Appeaser of wrath

Prepare ye the way for heaven to meet earth

From the desert shalt thou make straight His path

This Child of Spirit presented by Virgin birth

The repentant shall come to thee to be baptized

The Jordan shall hear many confessions of guilt

And now comes to thee prophecies now realized

The Cornerstone on which the house of God is built

I should be baptized by Thee, the precursor pleads

For within Thee there is found not spot or stain

Suffer it be so now, fulfilling all justice’s needs

That which I do My heavenly Father ordain

Thou brood of vipers O Pharisee and Sadducee

Think ye not Abraham an enemy of the Lamb

Faith’s Father longed to hear: Ecce Agnus Dei

And see Him Who’ll be sacrificed for thy scam

The Tetrarch’s fear renders the baptizer incarcerated

The femme fatale of Herodias, a promise discussed

Dance for me and I give thee till thy heart is sated

The man of God beheaded because of Herod’s lust

The netherworld where waits Patriarch and Prophet

Ye men of God, let us continue with prayer and fasting

For He Whom thou hast preached of, thus have I met

He will soon join us here and take us to life everlasting