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.