A Treasure To Be Shared

A Family Saying Grace before a Meal | Anthuenis Claeissens (c.1536–1613) [ Read time: 7 minutes ] The emphasis on fellowship in the Personal Ordinariates is a gift of English Benedictine monastics who, through the centuries, gave strong witness to Gospel hospitality, to welcoming the stranger, to fostering a culture of hospitality in parochial life. That spiritual legacy was retained in Anglicanism and has passed into the culture of Ordinariate communities. A lived fellowship is a vital element in the Ordinariate charism. We exist to worship God in the triune majesty of the Blessed Trinity, drawing all men and women into deepest communion with him through his Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and in the power and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. | Saint John Henry Newman, Victoria, BC Fellowship In Christ In the Ordinariate, the fellowship gathering after Mass, for example, is an extension and embodiment of our communion with Christ in the Holy Eucharist. This time of fellowship is...

[ 6 minute read ] Mean-spirited name calling is a cheap retaliatory ploy that exposes the indecent character of the utterer. What does a faithful Catholic do when a supreme pontiff resorts to name calling and to making derisive comments undeserved by those he has vaguely targeted? You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well. - St Matthew 5:38-40 True - there are times when we must tell it like it is, levelling correction in no uncertain terms with precision and appropriate charitable vigor for the good of souls. And... there are times when silence is the prudent option. What about a priest or a bishop or a pope who tends to splatter his words with diarrhetic force instead of engaging in constructive measured exchanges? Deliver me, O Lord, from evil me...

noblesse oblige nobility obliges St Matthew 25:34-36 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 2 Corinthians 9:6 The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Iliad , Book XII Homer: translation by Alexander Pope Sarpedon exhorts Glaucus, his comrade. 'Tis ours, the dignity they give to grace The first in valour, as the first in place; That when with wondering eyes our confidential bands Behold our deeds transcending our commands, Such, they may cry, deserve the sovereign state, Whom those that envy dare not imitate! The Grand Old Name of Gentleman by the Rev. John R. Vernon, in Contempo...

A non-Christian friend complained recently how difficult it is to maintain hope in "a post-capitalist world with so many people suffering". I would have offered reason for hope by pointing to an eternity of joy with Christ, which is ultimately more real than the frustrations of this life. However, as mentioned, my friend does not share the same hope found in Christ. This friend's plea inspired a few thoughts, mostly that the realization that faith really does make a difference in one's life. The weak hope provided by material distractions does not (cannot) endure. A reliance on fleeting distractions for relief from one misery or another is a foolish expectation that terminates daily in disappointment. Faith in God, by contrast, illuminates. God illuminates the soul, the heart and the mind with His grace, His life poured out for the willing soul who opens his or her life in faith to the transcendent beauty, goodness and truth of God, through the word of God (Holy Scrip...