Tre Fontana

Connected with and belonging to the monastery of Tre fontana are three separate churches. The first, the Church of St. Paul of Three Fountains, was raised over the spot where St. Paul was beheaded by order of Emperor Nero. Legend says that the head, once severed from the body, bounced, striking the earth in three different places from which fountains sprang up, which flow to the present day and are located within the sanctuary itself.
The second, originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title "Our Lady of Martyrs", is built over the relics of Saint Zeno and his 10,203 legionaries, who were martyred here at the order of Diocletian in 299. In this church is the altar "Scala Coeli" ("ladder to heaven"), from which the church receives its present name. Finally there are the church and monastery dedicated to Saints Vincent and Anastasius, built by Pope Honorius I in 626 and given to the Benedictines, who were to care for the two older sanctuaries, as well as their own church.
Towards the middle of the seventh century the persecutions inflicted on the Eastern monks by the Monothelites obliged many of them to seek shelter in Rome, and this abbey was committed to them as a refuge.
The abbey was richly endowed, particularly by Charlemagne, who bestowed on it Orbetello and eleven other towns with a considerable territory, over which its abbot exercises ordinary jurisdiction (abbatia nullius).
In the tenth century it was given to the Cluniacs. In 1140 Pope Innocent II withdrew the abbey from them, and entrusted it to St. Bernard, who sent there a Cistercian colony from Clairvaux, with Peter Bernard of Paganelli as their abbot, who five years later became Pope Eugene III.
At the time Innocent granted the monastery to the Cistercians, he had the church repaired and the monastic quarters rebuilt according to the usages of the order. Of the fourteen regular abbots who actually governed the abbey, several besides Blessed Eugene III became cardinals, legates, or bishops. Pope Honorius III again restored the Church of Saints Vincent and Anastasius and personally consecrated it in 1221, seven cardinals at the same time consecrating the seven altars therein.
Cardinal Branda da Castiglione became the first commendatory abbot in 1419, and after him this office was often filled by a cardinal. Future popes Clement VII and Clement VIII as cardinals held this position. Pope Leo X authorized the religious in 1519 to elect their own regular superior, a claustral prior independent of the commendatory abbot, who from this time forward was always to be a cardinal. From 1625, when the abbey was affiliated to the Cistercian Congregation of St. Bernard in Tuscany, until its suppression at the Napoleonic invasion in 1812, the local superior was a regular abbot, but without prejudice to the commendatory abbot. The best known of this series of regular abbots was the second, Dom Ferdinand Ughelli, who was one of the foremost literary men of his age, the author of "Italia Sacra" and numerous other works.
From 1812 the sanctuaries were deserted, until Leo XII removed them from the nominal care of the Cistercians in 1826, and transferred them to the Friars Minor of the Strict Observance. The purpose of the pontiff was however not accomplished: the surroundings were so unhealthy that no community could live there.
In 1867 Pius IX appointed as commendatory abbot of Tre Fontane his cousin Cardinal Milesi-Ferretti, who endeavored to restore the material desolation that reigned in the neglected sanctuaries. To this end he obtained that their care be again committed to the Cistercians. A community was sent there in 1868 from La Grande Trappe to institute the regular life and to try to improve the healthiness the lands, which from long neglect had been called the tomba (graveyard) of the Roman Campagna.
When the Papal States were inglobated in the Italian kingdom in 1870, the friars remained at Tre Fontane, at first renting and later (1886) definitively purchasing it from the Government, with an additional tract of 1,234 acres. They inaugurated modern methods for the elimination of the malarial conditions that had been such an obstacle to health in the past, especially by planting a large number of eucalyptus and other trees, an experiment insisted upon by the government in the contract of sale. The trial proved a success, so that the vicinity became nearly as healthful as Rome itself.

Karl Popper

Most of the reasons people find to question, or even refuse, to believe the claims of religion stem from the research and beliefs of Karl Popper. Though they often wouldn't know it. Popper believed that life was about finding out about life and that we went through a process of verification. This process started in the scientific world and has now spread out into every avenue of human society. Many say that they will only believe what we can see and what we can prove. Popper called this Critical Rationalism. However he stated that we go through a process of falsification. What we know today to be true, could be proved to be false or wrong tomorrow when new information is discovered. For example we all believed once that the world was flat, then round, now scientists say it is eliptical in shape. He called this falsification. This attitude is predominant in western culture. Popper said that this was an absolute.

However in saying that it was an absolute he contradicts his own theory, hence the problem. Science is not an exact science and will always leave us with a gap in our knowledge. The mind however, despite all this still knows that it can know. That there is an ultimate truth and,logically, that truth is God. It may take scientist a while however, to realise that they are going down a cul de sac in thought, while the world waits to realise that there is more to life then what we can prove and see. That what is more is a power and a reality that loves and nutures them. One that they ignore whilst they wait for him to prove himself, and one whose gifts they squander whilst wondering even if he exists.

Saint Francis

Today we went to see where Saint Francis and Saint Bonaventure lived and prayed. Fonte Colombo is where Saint Francis recieved his rule from Jesus himself in a tiny little cave which we walked through. As Saint Francis recieved it Brother Leo wrote it down, but later lost it and the whole thing had to be done again.

It was here that Saint Francis recieved an operation for an eye problem he had, the surgeon corterising all the nerve from ear to ear, Saint Francis, after praying, didnt feel a thing. However the operation was not a success and later Francis asked to be relieved of his suffering and the Lord appeared to him again on an Oak Tree.

Greccio is about 5km away from Fonte Colombo and is where Francis started the tradition of the Crib. It is now a museum of cribs with every nationality you can think of represented. There are african, mexican, Japenese, peruvian, inca, British, and every other nationality on earth. It was here that Both Saint Francis, for a time, and later Saint Bonaventure lived. Both places are built on the side of mountains are have absolutly amazing views.

Candidacy mass

Archbiship Di Noia came to the college yesterday to take our candidacy mass. Archbishop Di Noia is a Dominiacan, orginally from New York and heads the Office of the Divine Word. The mass is celebrated for those entering Holy Orders at the end of the academic year and is a big step in that process. Like most Adult Catholic ceremonies of initiation it involves an act of conscience and a declaration of submission of the reason and will of the candidate to God's love in their lives.

We have 7 candidates going forward to the diaconate this year, from Jamaica, Ghana, Australia, Ireland, England and Scotland. Please remember then in your prayers

The Definition of a Human Person

Louis Janssens gave us a definition of a Human Person. He said that: 1. we are Historic subjects and as such are not objects that can be used for any purpose. 2. We are incorporal, we live in a body and cannot ignore its needs. 3. We live in relation to the world around us so therefore, cannot ignore the needs of the world around us, nor any other person who inhabits that world, or the creator of that world-God. 4. Human beings are unique and original beings. 5. each and every human being is fundemetally equal. This allows us to realsie that each and every person is made in the image of God-Imagio Deo- and therefore what we do to another we do to God. In turn this gives us an understand of sin-Sin comes from a Hebrew word which literals means missing the point of life. The point of life being to live expressing that image of God in everything we do. To be able to see this image we need to be able to see God- we do in Jesus Christ. So therefore every good and virtuous act points us towards God and every sin away from God. God being the point of life. This takes us away from the old image of sin being to break one of the ten commandments and helps us reasilise that in each decision we make we need to choose Good-or God as each of us have the capicitity to be saint or sinner. WE ARE WHAT WE DO after all. However our ability to see good is often clouded by our fallen nature. Evil can so easiliy be seen as good, and we live in a world where governments and the media do just that for their own purposes and ends. However we can only start exactly where we are and strengthen our reason through each and every good act, thereby making us more free. Every sin weakening our reason and restricting our reason.

When we do that we are responding to God's grace who is there helping us each and every step of the way. Surely this is our only responsibility (where the word comes from) as otherwise we are spitting in the face of God. God is the source of all blessings and how we live says everything about who we are. In this it is easy to see those who are so richly blessed in our world who use those blessings for the most selfish ends. Aren't these the people who sent Jesus to the cross? Isn't that something we are all still doing each and everytime we point our lives away from God?

The Definition of a Human Person

Palazzola

Today we go to Palazzola for a retreat, so that we can reflect on all that has happened over the last two months and maybe, to relax a little. As you can see from the photo, Palazzola is the ideal setting, in the hills outside Rome and overlooks Lake Albano. The house is run by the Venerable English collage, at one time being their summer residance in the days when seminarians were not allowed home. The prsence of the English there dates back to 1579, when seminaries were set up ffor the emglish missions, to escape the persecutions of the reformation.

The site however has been the home of Christian communities since the 8th century, when hermits began to dwell in the caves there. These hermits later became Augustinian, the Cistercians taking over the site in 1244.

During the last war the English semianarians had to flee home and the Germans occupied it. Artillery positions being set up there to defend the beaches at Anzio during the allied invasion. The Allies bomb the site causing extensive damge. When the war finished, the English college returned and it is now restored and quite beautiful. It should be a wonderful weekend.

The Ambo

The Ambo is a riased platform which is used to proclaim the word of God. Pope Innocent III quoting from Isiah "Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, lift up thy voice with strength" (xl:9). Lecturns are used to hold books. Ideally the Gospel should be carried from the altar (the East) to the people (the west), though this isnt always possibly for a variety of reasons. However the symbology of the word of God coming from the East, the direction of the rising sun remains as Jesus is the risen Son, who is the word. In many processions the Gospel is carried North, then South, then West to be read at the Ambo, in the procession never returning East as God's word once given is never broken. His covent once made, remains forever. Here we are led to the words in Matthew's Gospel found in 5: 1,2 "He went up a Mountain- and opening his mouth he taught them".

What is amazing is that all this divine symbology can go on without our being aware of it. I will never look at a Church in the same way again, but isn't that what makes gaining knowledge so exciting?

A World in need of God

Our world is out of balance at the moment, the only thing that can bring us peace is God. Many of us feel an innate need to belong. We therefore often begin to identify with groups, our country, our family, a political party, but all too often they lead us away from peace and we feel this in our hearts. We live in a society that yearns but only sees people that dont belong to our group, our country, our religion our family, so what do we do when that happens, fight to get others to conform to our opinions, our values, our dreams. Evidence of this can be seen by the rediness some people portray to die for a cause and then state that they are dying for God. How could a loving God want such a thing, but to someone from a poor country, the belief is that anything is better then what they are experiancing, how they are living. In Britain we see corruption, not just from Government, though that is bad enough, but in every human endeavour. So what do we do as a result? This is where the Cult of looking after no 1 has sprung up. However think back to when we train our children to go to the toilet, what is it we called no 1's? so those that look after no 1 are in fact doing just that, over everyone else. The truth is that becasue of our fallen natures, anything can be dressed up and, if packaged correctly, seem like the right thing to do. Such is our desire to do good. Even religion through the years has done just that, maybe even especially religion.

However we all know that all this is so far removed from how we should be living. We have an idea of utopia, Heaven on earth but again because of our human natures will never be able to fully realise that on earth. However the best thing that we can is allow God to come into our lives and allow that life to be fully illuminated and transformed by his loving presence. We dont need to save anyone else, after all we cant we are not God. However God is at the heart of everything his peaceful presence can give us the strength and courage to overcome anything. In fact it is in suffering that he is closest to us because in suffering he shares our pain. After all did he not say "Pick up your cross and follow me"? it was love that brought him to that cross. A love that he had for us when we rejected him, spurned him and pushed him away, yet he still loved us. He gave his life for us, to find our lives we must give it back to God and maybe, just maybe in doing that we begin to make the world a better place for us all to live in.

The Cenacolo community was founded by Sr Elvira Petrozzi, an Italian nun in 1983. For many years she had been concerned by the destruction she had seen among young people through drug abuse and she longed to help them. Since she had no formal training to work with addicts and the charism of her order was teaching, it was 8 years before she managed to persuade her superiors that this was a genuine call of God and to release her for the work.
She began with two companions - a fellow religious, Sr Aurelia, and a teacher Nives Grato. They were given an abandoned old house in the city of Saluzzo in Italy, which was leased to her by the city for a dollar a year, and on July 16th, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Cenacolo community officially opened. Soon young people began to arrive on her doorstep needing help and the work began. Sr Elvira has leamt as she has gone along. In the beginning the young addicts were allowed to smoke and have a glass of wine, Italian style, with their meals. She soon leamt, however, that such social niceties were not possible for people fighting with addiction. One evening she came back to find the young men in the community were all drunk, having bored a hole in the pantry wall and finished off all their supplies of wine. Now alcohol and tobacco are not allowed on the premises for anyone."A SCHOOL OF LIFE"
While secular de-tox programmes will use methodone and other drug substitutes to wean people off hard drugs, Sr Elvira has a completely different method. She believes that the problem of the young people is not so much one of chemical dependence on drugs, but that drugs are the only way that these young people have found to cope with their problems in life. She sees her job as showing them, a better and much more effective option - Christ. Thus Cenacolo is not so much a therapeutic community or drug rehab centre, as a school of life with prayer at its heart. The young people are thus put through a kind of intensive spiritual boot camp where they leam to live in a totally new way - to accept a simple lifestyle, and to rediscover the gifts of work, friendship and of faith in the Word of God, instead of relying on the crutch of drugs to escape from everything that is too painful to deal with. In their brochure the Cenacolo members explain their biggest problems are not the chemical withdrawals but re-orienting their lives.One of the keys to the healing of the drug addicts is the role of their "guardian angels". These are fellow addicts who are further along the spiritual journey, who can offer emotional and spiritual support to new boys. The guardian angels provide 24 hour support for their charges, listening to them, encouraging them, making them cups of tea if they wake up in the night troubled, or even doing their work for them, if they feel too ill to do it. This unconditional love melts the hardest of hearts and helps prepare the newcomer for the day when he will do this for someone else on the programme. Later it is hoped they will take this giving attitude out into the world and help others, instead of being stuck in the self-centred spiral that many addicts find themselves in because of their drugs habit.
"TAUGHT TO GIVE THEIR PAIN AND PROBLEMS TO CHRIST"
The programme also teaches the addict to embrace the suffering and pain in their lives and give it to Christ through prayer, particularly in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Thus they learn in a practical way that these things can be carried with the grace of God and the love of community without having to resort to chemical escape mechanisms. Those who successfully complete the programme emerge not just healed of their addiction but strong, vibrant Christians with a heart to give and serve, particularly to help others who are suffering in the way they did in the past. While some addicts go back home, marry and get jobs and generally become reintegrated back into normal society, others decide to stay on and help found other Cenacolo communities elsewhere. Some have even opted for the priesthood or the religious life, and in the last few years a new religious order has grown up within the community, as well as the opportunity for consecrated celibacy.
Not surprisingly their success has led to a huge growth in the last decade or so, particularly in Italy and Croatia. There are now 47 communities world wide, with 1500 people in them, as well as many prayer groups and supportt groups for the families of addicts. A Cenacolo community was opened in Knock in Ireland in 1999 and it is hoped that there will also be one in England too in the near future.
"THE BEAUTY OF LIVING BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE"
Currently the community can house 16 people and the hope in the future is to build a separate chapel in the grounds. "We don't have much money for that either," says Aida blithely, "but I'm not worried, that's the beauty of believing in Divine Providence. If the Lord wants it, we will get the money, and if he doesn't we won't, and then there would be no point in building it anyway." The whole of Cenacolo operates on Divine Providence and the Irish community receives no state funding at all despite the work they do. "We don't accept anything from the State because we don't agree with their policy on drugs," says Aida, "we don't believe in giving methodone, which the government funded centres do, and we want to have the freedom to do things the way we feel called to. We have had some marvellous successes over the years, and some failures too, boys for whom our way was too hard and who left after a few days. It isn't for everybody but for those that it suits it works brilliantly." Those who do follow through the whole 3 year programme, go on to live good productive lives, she says.
"CENACOLO IS RUN BY THE ADDICTS THEMSELVES"
Rather than relying on highly paid workers with academic qualifications, the beauty of the Cenacolo programme is that it is run by the addicts themselves. Their service to Cenacolo becomes part of their own healing. They help others the way they have been helped themselves, and this helps them to move on with their lives. Sr Elvira reckons that while an addict can be healed of his addiction to drugs in 6 months or so, to get to the root of why he is taking the drugs in first place and to make the personal changes in his life needed to make sure that he won't go back, it takes about 2-3 years. As the Irish house is comparatively small, addicts only stay there for six to nine months or so. After this they usually move on to one of the houses in Italy to broaden their experience.
Interviews for addicts for places in the Knock community are held twice a month in Dublin on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month at the Aughrim Street Parish Centre. 13 Prussia Street, Dublin 7. Here addicts and their parents can meet with members of the community and discuss whether Cenacolo is the right solution for them. For further details contact:
094 93 88286 (outside Ireland add 00 353 and omit the 0 before the 94). Currently the Irish community is the only English speaking one in Europe and addicts from England, Scotland and Wales are usually sent here.

Santa Maria Degli Angeli

Today I went to Santa Maria Deglia Angeli (Mary of the Angels), which is a church built by Michelangelo on the site of where the Emperor Diocletian martyred a number of Christians in his persecution during the 3rd century. As you can see it is truely beautiful.

The church currently houses an exhibition about Galileo Galile (1564-1642) who is widely regarded as the father of modern science. Galileo contary to popular belief was not an athiest. He believed the world to have been made by a creative hand who could be understood and known through science. He believed that God had given us two books, the book of scripture and the book of nature and believed that the two did not conflict against each other. The period he lived in though was far from enlightened. Superstitions abounded and the Church had just had the so called controversys surrounding the theorys of Copernicus, who said that the world orbited the sun. Sadly the work of Saint Augustine was used to squash both these men. Augustine had believed that nothing should contradict scripture, indeed that nothing could. He also believed that Mathematicians were in league with the Devil if their opinions ever conflicted the Bible. Augustine lived in a time when not much scientifically was known and astrology and astronomy were pretty much the same thing. The church believing that astrology was evil as it was preoccupied with trying to predict the future.

Sadly this prejuidice opinion coloured and clouded anyones view of Galileo's work for hundreds of years. It took at least 250 years for his theorys about the Sun's movements to be proved correct. Now at long last he can take his rightful place as advancing Mans knowledge of how God operates in the universe, as can Science, not as something that opposes the Church and scripture , but as avenues of knowledge complimenting and illuminating each other. Inded the world benefited from the work of both Galileo and Saint Augustine of Hippo.

St Cecilia's

Today I went to the Basilica of Saint Cecilia. Saint Cecilia was a Roman Noblewoman who lived in the 3rd Century. She became a Christian and took a vow of Virginity, but her parents married her off anyway. She married Valerian of Trastevere, who she converted to Christianity on her wedding night. They started giving alms to the poor and Cecilia was martryed in a persecution of Christian's, she refused to worship the Roman gods. She had her throat cut, only not very well as she lived on for a further three days. She is the patron saint of music. Cecilia was buried in the catacombs of San Callisto, but in 1599 she was exhumed and her body found to be incorrupt and the statue in the picture was made. In it you can see Cecilia making what was a well known Christian gesture. She holds up three fingers of one hand, depicting the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and in the other hand holds up one finger, depicting one God, though three aspects. Her remains were moved to their present location. The church having been built over the remains of her own house, and is now a Benedictine convent.

The Tomb of Pope John Paul II

Today I went to visit the Tomb of the Pope's. Most of the Pope's having been buried underneath Saint Peters Basilica. Here they lay alongside the remains of the very first Pope Saint Peter. Well at least the memorial for him his there. I cannot be sure that his remains are actually kept there, having only been found, with some excitment, in the 1960's. The grave of Saint Peter, like that of Saint Paul, when discovered, were very humble memorials. Both being simply covered by House tiles as was the custom for the poor in Roman times.

One of the Pope's whose remains are definatly in the Crypt is Pope John Paul II, who was Pope between 16th October 1978 and the 2nd April 2005. The tomb you can see in the photo above, still recieves fresh flowers everyday as a mark of respect for all the work he did during his life, and was still surrounded by those wishing to pay their respects to him even now.

Rememberance Day

Today we have our Remeberance Day Service to commerate those who have died in armed conflicts. The mass is to be celerbrated at the Basilica San Silvestro, which is the Church in Rome dedicated to English speaking peoples.

The mass is attended by all the Roman English speaking Seminarys. So will be meeting students from the Venerable English, Scots, Irish collages. Each collage takes it in turns to host the mass and this year it is the turn of the Scotch Collage

Beda V Rosminians

Today we played host to the seminarians from the Rosminian collage and played them at 5 a side football. It was a bad day for sport as the Rosminians won 6-1. With Australia winning the Rugby it was not a good day for Sport. It is on days like this when the words of Jesus strick home, "take up your cross and follow me".

It may have helped though if he had remembered which side he was on!

Jubilarians

Yesterday a coach load of Priests arrived, all of whom were celebrating some sort of major anniversary. Between them they had 1900 (nineteen Hundred) years of Priesthood. You wouldnt have thought it though. They were so full of life and fun and so encouraging of us all here. It seems to me that working for God has kept these people young. As well as giving them all a fulfiling and challenging life. Long may their work for the Lord continue. It was really a pleasure to meet them all.

Rene Descartes 1596-1650

We all know Rene Descartes famous saying "I think therefore I am" but there was alot more to it then that. Descartes had actually began by using his reason to find out if God existed. His is the father of what we know of as Rationalism. He wanted to find what he called an intellectual certainty, but all he could find was doubt. He doubted everything, but this doubt meant one thing that he must be thinking, hence "I think therefore I am". He took this further however and came to believe that anything that we could concieve was distinctly true. He took this rational argument to its natural conclusion when he discussed perfection. The idea of perfection is such a clear concept that it could not proceed from the human imperfect reason and therefore perfection existed. If perfection existed then logically God exists.

Sadly Descartes thinking has been used and misused over the centuries to justify every crackpot notion. With people believing that becasue they thought, they alone could decided what was right and wrong. This gave us the two great Evils of the last century, Nazism and Communism. Both however were a long way from Descartes orginal Philosphy and both were in turn defeated by the power of Good or God in the world

Personalism

The Catholic Church has being trying to combat the problems created by the Post Modern World since the 1800s through what is called Personalism. The post modern world, the one created by Mankind's belief that science had explained away God, has led to many of the problems which we now face and even take for granted. Now morality is completly focussed on an individual. People normally using their own gut feelings to tell them what is right and wrong, without any connection to an outside source. Life became subjective and thereby selfish. The Church however countered these problems by going back to the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, who said" Man is an Individuated substance of a Rational nature, who has been endow by the Creator with Reason." When we do not use this reason we become less then we were intended to be. The Church said that we arrive at the truth by sharing our knowledge, as each of us is not God, we need other people's ideas to get to God. We have freedom of Choice but that freedom needs to be strengthened so that we can better reflect God in our Moral lives.

The Church defined the Human being as having four defining qualities. We live in a world of time and space, a world of Imminance, the one science can explain, however we also live in a transcendant world. A world that is constanlty changing and becoming. Here we have the attributes of reason but also one that demands we look to God and the eternal.

We are individual beings, but at the same time live in a social world. We cannot be indivuals without relationships. It is those around us that make us who we are.

These qualites need to be balanced for us to be living healthy active life. The greatest possesion that we have is our life.

That healthy balance is maintained by transcendant experiances, Mass, Prayer and study, dreams and ideals, and by earthly experiances, work, charity and activity. We live in a world inhabited by others and happiness comes through love of the other. Especially if that other is poor, vunerable, and marginalised because in them we see Christ.

Beda V The Scottish Collage

Sunday afternoon saw the Scottish collage Seminarians arrive to take on the Beda at Football. A hard fought contest saw the Beda come out 6-3 winners. It seems that we are starting to get an understanding as a team. The match however started with both teams meeting in the centre circle for a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God that we were even able to play the match. The prayer thanked God for health, fitness and our many blessings. However as I said it was a hard fought match and one of the Scottish team went off a little injured. It seems that I have now developed a reputation as a hatchet man, undeserved of course. After all it was England V Scotland and there is pride at stake. Maybe we should have ended the game with a prayer too?

Anamnesis

When the mass is celebrated, we are not performing a commeration of the life of Jeus but it is an event that celebrates the Paschal Mystery (the birth, suffering, death, ressurection and the descent of the Holy Spirit), but does not repeat it. In other words the mass brings the past and the future into the present. It is the celebrations that are repeated.

We can see this when we look at what happens at the mass. In the Eucharistic prayer, we recount the saving life of Jesus. The main parts being he took, blessed, broke, gave. However the mass does not perform these actions when they are spoken but at other times, times when the Church, the people of God drawn into the mystery take part. When we say Jesus took the bread, we look to the presentation of the gifts when the priest, acting in place of Jesus, takes the offetory after their procession to the alter. The blessing is the whole Eucharistic prayer, the Breaking of bread happens at the fraction rite, the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) and the give at the communion rite.

This whole process was given to the Church as a gift and is again a sign of God's saving work within it.

Good V Evil

Since the begginning of time Man has asked the question are our natures Good or Evil. The ancient philosophers, Socrates and Plato, believed them to be good, believing that we could rise through the use of reason to express what was inheriant in our natures. For them the use of reason was god, being in harmony with reason was good and disharmony with reason was evil.

Luther and Calvin on the other hand believed that our natures were inheriantly evil and this was why he was denouced by the Catholic church. They believed that our natures were not redeemable. Therefore freewill did not exist. They believed that we could never become good people, so questioned the use of morals. Morals became a means of control, a way of miminizing the damage. In turn this led to Law becoming all important, as did punishment and retribution. Transgressors were shamed. The church became a policeman and our duty was to obey the law. A place where we still are in Britain.

Some however including Scientists believed that we were a blank state and that our enviroment and experiance conditioned our natures. This gave us the right to decide what morals were. As Hume said "You cannot get an ought from a is". In other words because sex can lead to pregnancy it dosnt mean that it should. Somehwere also where we still are in Britain.

On the other hand the Catholic church, throughThomistic anthropolgy believes that our natures are a mixture of Good and Evil. This being the case then our morality can direct us to do what is good. Virtue and Laws are therefore both important as is reason and freewill. However our reason has been damaged, as has our freedom. Every personnel sin weakening further our reason and limiting our freedom. This in turn makes it easier to commit further sins. The right choice becoming harder. This is the effect of original sin.

Jesus's life is one that sancitfies us and gives us Gods grace as it transforms us. It enlightens the mind and allows us to see evil for what it is and in turn makes us more free.

People in our generation have become lazy and will accept any easy answer, especially if it suits their purpose. We need God to help strengthen our reason, helping us to make the right choices and save us from ourselves. Surely this is the only thing that can be true as it is the only thing that takes me outside of myself and helps me live the decent wonderful loving life that I know in my heart I was created for.

Love

When we love we begin to listen to Gods voice. Through loving we begin to find peace. Love is the fulfilment of the law and should be everyone's rule of life. Love is the solution to every problem. Love and do as you will is the problem. When I love I can no longer do as I will. When I love I am Loves prisoner, and love is tremendous in it's demands when it has God as its object, especially a God crucified. I can no longer do my will. I must do the will of Jesus, which is the will of the Father. When I learn to do his will I truly find my vocation on earth.

Love however has a purifying fire, which can expose our nakedness. The pain we experiance in our lives makes that love real. It gets rid of what is not love, it removes our masks. On this pain, the Holy SPirit comes to rest and leads us to prayer, prayer that is a gift from God, containing every gift of God. We are what we pray. The degree of our faith is the degree of our prayer. The strength of our hope is the strength of our prayer. The warmth of our charity is the warmth of our prayer. Our prayer has had a beginning, because we have had a beginning, but it has no end. It will accompany us into eternity. This prayer is a personnel relationship with God, it is differant for every person. No prayer is exactly like another. What varies is the spirit of the Lord which gives it life, and this is always new.

moral Theology

yesterday we had a very interesting lecture on Moral theology. The main theme concerned the moral choices that we make, about such things as say contraception and transplants. The moral arguments centered around the rigorists and the laxists. The rigorists said that if there was any church rule, then we must follow it, if there wasnt then one could not proceed until the church had decided upon the question. The laxists on the other hand, said that if any doubt existed at all then an individual was free from the Moral obligation. As you can imagine this caused some heated debate, both camps accussing the other of heresy.

Along comes Saint Alphonsus, to solve the problem. Alphonsus said that if your conscience tells you that a church teaching is right, then you must follow it. If there is serious doubt then your conscience is free and you must follow your conscience.

For his trouble, Saint Alphonsus got caught up between the two factions and was accused of heresy by both of them.

We see these arguments emerging again in our modern world, but the theology of Saint Alphonsus still holds true

Judaism

Today our class on early church History looked at Judaism and was absolutly fascinating. It seems that Judaism was hugely influenced by the Hellenistic world (Greek) and there were two different types of Jewish world. The diaspora was split into the east and west. The East being conquered by Assyria in 722bc, who took off the elite classes leaving the Anawin(poor) behind. A very differant Judaism sprang from this as it was in exile and didnt have the temple at Jurusalem. The Diaspora in the west came under the protectorship of Egypt. Now here is the thing, Egypt was rule by the Ptolemy dynsty, of which Cleopatra was the last. So it seems Cleopatra was Greek. Now it is here that we get the Septuagint, the translation of the Jewish Bible, the old Testament as we know it, into Greek. The politics become crazy around Antiochus 4th in around 175 bc, with bribes buying the position of Jewish High priest. Corruption was rife. This in turn led to the Jewish revolts of 66-70 ad and 135 ad and the Jews never recover until 1948. In the eastern Diaspora however the policy of building Synagogues helps establish and preserve the Jewish religion and forms it into what we know today

Beda V the VEC

Today the seminarians at the VEC came over to play us at 5 a side football. The game started after both teams gathered in the centre circle for a prayer. Not something I am accustomed to seeing at Charlton Atheletic. A well contested and highly competitive game saw the VEC come out as 3-1 winners. However the Beda's consulation goal was scored by yours truly from well inside our own half. A contender for goal of the season I have no doubt. The game had a very high profile audience, with the Bishops of Leeds and Middlesborough watching from the sidelines. After the game we all retired to the bar to arrange the rematch

Spirituality

Today we had our first class in Spirituality, given by Abbott Timothy Wright. He described Spiritituality as being about our relationship with God and how we maintain and develop that relationship.

I think that is quite a good description, but it does portray our spiritual lives as a personnel experiance. One of the wonderful things about God is that I have his whole complete and undivided attention, but at the same time do not deny or prevent anyone else having that same relationship with God.

Our whole lives then become a divine interaction with God, who draws us closer to himself in and through every experiance we have, but in particular through his Holy Word. Why? because most of the time we are not listening, being too wrapped up in ourselves in one way or another. We also meet him in the difficulties and the messiness of our lives. Jesus said take up your cross and follow me and it is in our suffering that we meet him face to face. How often though, when things go wrong, do we believe that we have failed? Often this is due to our belief that life is about success. When infact it is about our relationship to God. A God who is continually asking us to experiance him, and thereby life more fully. When we look at life like that every experiance becomes a joy, even the bad ones. There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven (Eccl 3). It makes you wonder why we worry so much doesn't it?

Theology

Lectures began in earnest on Monday. Tuesday was a day of Theology. The word Theolgy coming from two Greek words, Theos meaning God and Logos, meaning word (broadly speaking). God speaks, man listens then speaks about God. Saint Anselm described Theology as "faith seeking understanding"

So we look at how God speaks, what he is saying and then take that onto discuss how this word of God and our faith influences the moral choices that we make in life. All too often Catholic's have been hit by a big stick where Morals are concerned. You know the sort of thing I mean "If you do such and such you are going to hell" Or if you don't do..........when in fact that is nothing like what the Church actually says but has been used to cover up peoples lack of understanding and inabilty to communicate. the Church cannot and does not tell anyone what to do, but simply says if we adopt a course of action which is illuminated by Gods love for us than we begin to make the world a better place and also find happiness for ourselves. Framed in that way doesn't it make more sense? I think so! So instead of being a rule oriented church we begin to become an experiental church. One which experiances and expresses God's love for us

A very interesting beginning

Venerable English College

Last night all the men from the Diocese of Southwark who are permanantly resident in Rome got to together for a meal. Hosted by the rector of the Venerable English College, who is from Wimbledon, he was joined by 5 seminarians. 2 (including myself) studying at the Beda and 3 who are studying at the Vec.

The evening began with Vespers at the VEC, which was a wonderful experiance. The VEC was founded during the reformation as both a sanctuary and a place to train Priest who would then return to mission in England. It was given the title Venerable as many who trained there subsequently became martyrs. Catholicism being made ilegal in England at the time. So it was wonderful to be there amongst so much History.

The college has so much wonderful artwork. Major renovation work has been carried on in the main chapel which will be officially opened by Cardinal Cormac next week.

Be Still and know that I am God

Lectures begin on Monday and as part of our preparation for study, we have a weekend retreat. Starting friday, we embarked on a period of silence, broken at regular intervals by spiritual conferances, Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Conferances given by Abbott Timothy Wright, are centered around the theme of Priesthood. Accepting God's call, the nature of Priestly life, formation and encountering God. Abbott Timothy has used Mark's Gospel, which we have to read three times, as well as Pope benedicts thoughts, his encyclical Pastores Dabo Vobis and his own thoughts. It is proving to be very interesting and very inspiring.

Ostia

There is a tradition in Italy that goes back many hundreds of years. That Thursday is a day of rest. This is due to a saint, I am sorry I dont know which one, who said that people should not work four days in a row. So people have sundays and Thursdays off. We took advantage of that by taking a trip to the seaside.

Ostia is just a short, 45 min, train journey from here and has miles of sandy beeches. It is a beautiful day so to be able to walk along the seafront and listen to the waves crash against the shore was very relaxing.

We found out another strange Italian custom upon arriving. Walking along the beach was free, but we would have to pay if we wanted to swim. Payment would get you a beech hut and a lifeguide amongst other things

Papal AUdience

Today we went to the Papal Audience. Held every week, in Saint Peter's Sq when its warm and in the auditorium, in the Winter. We were lucky as we had seats on the Podium, about 10 metres away from where the Pope sits. As is usual when abroad, you always bump into someone you know and sure enough thats what happened today. Sitting not 10 feet away was Father Anthony, one of the Canons from Eltham.

The audience is a very international affair. The various speeches and introductions being done in 6 Languages, then the Pope finishes with the Pater Nosta in Latin ( Our Father) and then gives his blessing.

first mass of the African Synod

Today we went to Saint Peter's Basilica for the first mass of the African Synod. The Basilica was absolutly packed. There must have been about 10,000 people there. The processions of Deacons, priests, Bishops, Cardinals, Swiss Guard and the Pope took nearly 20 minutes. We also had Nuns singing and dancing to African music at the end of mass. The Pope celebrated, the mass being said in Latin, Italian, English, Lingala, Swahli, Amarico, Portugese, Hausa, Arabo and Kikongo. Latin and Italian being used for the main parts of the liturgy, the Gospel being said in English, with the hymns, etc, being sung in the other languages mentioned. The mass itself took nearly 3 hours but truly portrayed the universal church.

Having finished at about 11.40, the Pope had 20 minutes before he said the Angelus, a Sunday tradition here. Not a bad sheduale for a man in his 80's.

San Calisto

Today we went into the Catacombs at San Calisto. Rediscovered in 1852, they lay unused, and unentered for nearly a thousand years. They were however found looted, but have been restored and are now cared for by the Salesian fathers. There are many catacombs around Rome, San Calisto alone being the tomb of nealry half a million Christians and dates back to the 1st and 2nd Centuries. The Romans respected the Dead and, even though they knew they were Christian tended to leave them alone. However various Emperors persecuted the Christians and in the early 3th Century, During the riegn of Valerian, Pope Sixtus 2 was killed by Roman Soldiers in the Catacombs of San Calisto. He was buried there, with various other Pope's, their remains being moved some 500 years later. Mass at times was also celebrated there, as we did this morning.

The early christian's would dig out burial chambers in the volcanic rock and then seal each catacomb. After exhausting a level they would then dig down and start again. The rubble being hauled out by rope and pully. In some places the catacombs are as deep as 120 metres. It was amazing to be standing on so much history.

Castel Gondolfo

Today we went on what is called in Italy a Gita, a day trip out from the college. First we went to Frascati, which is up in the hills outside Rome and was once the home of the Stewart Family. Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Brother having lived there for some time. Bonnie Prince Charlie after the failed Jacobite attempt to gain him the crown of Great Britain in 1745. His brother Henry was infact a Cardinal, Frascati being where his palace was. He was Archbishop of York at the time, before the counter reformation allowed Catholics to return to Britain once more. Both are now infact buried in Saint Peters Basilica, with the emblem of a monarch of Great Britain above a plaque commerating their remains. Bonnie Prince Charlie obviously still believing he was Britains rightful King.

Then we went on to Castel Gondolfo, after lunch. Castel Gondolfo is the Pope's summer residance. Pope's relocating there after the heat in Rome becomes too much during the summer. Its altitude making the temperature far more bearable.

College Chapel

I couldnt remove one of the images. Somehow i posted the same one twice. Sorry! Heres the other one i wanted to post.

Main Chapel

We meet twice a day in the main chapel. Once for mass and either morning or evening prayer. The other offices, readings midday and night prayer are said in private. The chapel is beautiful. the pictures posted here dont really do it justice. When the sun shines on the cross a shadow is cast that is breathtaking.

When the college returns there will be about 60 of us here. Then everyday we will also have adoration and night prayer together as a college, which will be lovely. The final anthem of the day being the Salve Regina to our lady

The Beda College

The Bede is named after Saint Bede, Whose statue stands in the entrance hall. The statue made of Chestnut wood, from a 150 year old tree Which stood in the grounds of Durham Cathedral and was a gift to the college in 2001.

The College was set up in 1852, originally for convert Anglican priest as a course of 4 years formation. Whilst its form has somewhat changed, with students coming now from all over the English speaking world it has retained its Vatican approval for a 4 year course, tailored for older men joining the priesthood. The only course of its kind.

It begins Here

I have been here for nearly 3 days now and have been made to feel so welcome. My room overlooks the lovely St Pauls Basilica, run by a Benedictine Community. I am very lucky. I will try and get some Photos on this page as soon as i can and tell you all a little about college life. Please bear with me.
My year has 21 students, a very good intake. We have students from all over Great Britain and also from the USA, Australia, Sri Lanka, Samoa, and two Monks from Tanzanire. Quite a mixture. Today we Celebrated mass in San Colombano Chapel, which is in the Crypts in Saint Peters Basilica. What a wonderful experiance. Sorry i am not good at taking phots but will get some up as soon as i can. I also has Spiritual direction with Abbott Timothy Wright, long time Abbott of Ampleforth Abbey in Yorkshire.
I will try and get myself into a proper routine so i can update this site more completly. Thank you for your patiance.

Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when so many friends are involved. However its not as if i am not coming back, its only 3 months until Christmas, when i get to see everyone again. Besides i hope many of you will keep in touch with me when i am in Rome. I have been so moved by all the help and encouragement i have recieved from everyone at the parish and i carry you all with me in my heart and in my prayers. There is a wonderful community growing and flourishing spiritually at Christchurch and one which i have been privilidged to be part of. Thank you! I hope that i can represent you all with dignity and honour throughout my training for the priesthood. I look forward to seeing you all in just a few months time

Preparing to go

I leave for the Beda in Rome in just under a week and am so looking forward to it. It will be nice to get started, meet everyone and find my way about. I am all packed, everything is prepared, or just about and now alot of hard work and waiting is about to be realised. God has certainly been there every step of the way, and he is certainly a God of sirprises.

I have never posted blogs before so bear with me as i learn how to do it and realise what is fun. If you have any ideas let me know at leonardtatt@live.co.uk

I will try to keep you posted as i embark on my exciting adventure next week. Please keep me in your prayers