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@Contra Mundum@ Volume XI, Issue 8 March 2009 The Congregation of St. Athanasius A Congregation of the Pastoral Provision of Pope John Paul II for the Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite http://www.locutor.net LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION ENTEN fasting itself can lead us again as our Lord’s earthly ministry repression and what we might also see Linto temptation if its practice, as was drawing to a close, at the outset as false scruples. Hence the wisdom of often happens, causes irritability and of the final act of the redemption of in counselling the circumvention subsequent rashness of judgement or mankind, most fittingly also in a garden and even preemption of temptation when “fastinger than thou” demeanors not of Eden, as Newman reminds us in through prayer. encourage a growth of scornful pride. Gerontius: The very model of Christian prayer, Our Blessed Lord specifically warns A second Adam to the fight in fact, ’s Prayer, precedes of these dangers and advises us (Matt and to the rescue came. in the our Lord’s previously 6:16f): … mentioned admonition about fasting And when you fast, do not look And in the garden secretly, and has immediate textual parallels dismal, like the hypocrites, for they and on the cross on high, with it. Indeed two of the three disfigure their faces that their fasting should teach His brethren and specific petitions in that prayer deal may be seen by men… inspire with temptation, the climactic one But when you fast, anoint your head to suffer and to die. most obviously (‘Lead us not into and wash your face, that your fasting Amidst the temptation and agony in temptation, but deliver us from evil.’) may not be seen by men but by your Gethsemane our Saviour explicitly and the first of them (‘Give us this father who is in secret… advanced to his sleeping disciples the day our daily bread.’) pointing at the Encountering temptation belongs to way of dealing with temptation (Matt first temptation of Christ after he had the nature of our humanity and not 26.41): completed forty days of fasting in the wilderness and—understatement just of our fallen nature, for in our Watch and pray that you may not of understatements—‘afterward he account of the Fall (Gen 3) Adam and enter into temptation; the spirit was hungry’ (Matt 4:2b). That first Eve in their preternatural state fell indeed is willing, but the flesh is temptation of his ministry (Matt 4:3f; from grace and into condemnation weak. after yielding to the tempting of the :3f) involves loaves of bread Our tradition asserts three sources serpent. And our Blessed Savior, the from stones and finds a further echo in for temptation: the world, the flesh paragon of humanity, ‘has suffered a slightly later passage (Matt 7:9): and the . Yet in all three we see, and been tempted’ (Heb 2:18) and ‘in Or what man of you, if his son however personified, creatures of God: every aspect has been tempted as we asks him for bread, will give him a the order brought from chaos, the are, yet without sinning’ (Heb 4:15). stone? material of human existence, and even Do we not recall easily His temptations the spiritual order, although corrupted The bread which our Blessed Lord in the desert near the beginning of His by pride and subsequent loathing. For, teaches us to ask for has one specific ministry (Matt 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; as moral theology teaches, temptation quality with two distinct aspects: the :12f): in itself does not constitute sin but, if Greek term used both in Matthew And when the devil had ended unaddressed, can lead to sin. On the and in Luke, epiousiov, vaguely every temptation, he departed from other hand, obsession with temptation characterizes the specific quality of the him until an opportune time. (Luke and direct resistance to the urgings of bread (‘upon substance’), while the two 4:13) temptation can give rise to what modern different aspects appear in the Latin That opportune time came at least once psychiatry might call dangerous continued on page 58 Page 58 Contra Mundum

LEAD US NOT..., continued from page 57 temptation involving decisive moments Vulgate renderings: supersubstantialis in the story of salvation, a story in (‘supersubstantial’ Matthew) and which we play a more modest role than quotidianus (‘daily’ Luke). The first that of Adam and Eve in Paradise, (Gen of them, namely, is simply a calque 3), of Abraham in the land of Moriah of the rare Greek form, quite literally (Gen 22), of Job in the land of Uz, or something on the order of ‘that which of in the garden of Gethsemane. transcends matter, spiritual’, the Regarding the temptations of this sort bread alone by which man does not which may come our way keep in mind live. The second aspect, ‘daily bread’ the teaching of James (1:13f): covers the physical needs upon which Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I our own substance rests. Somewhere am tempted by God’; for God cannot between these two aspects also float be tempted with evil and He himself the miraculous bread, the manna, of tempts no one; but each person is which our fathers ate in the wilderness tempted when he is lured and enticed yet died, and the eucharistic bread of by his own desire. Then desire when , the Blessed Sacrament which it has conceived gives birth to sin; transcends death. and sin when it is full–grown brings In all this, as we pray then, we find forth death. ourselves in the wilderness where No, we most require deliverance from Christ countered temptation with the the temptation of the active sort, from words of Scripture and where—here an the self–generated arrogance and pride important turning point—the children which leads us to place our human THE FIRST of Israel put the Lord himself to the knowledge and sophistication, our SUNDAY IN test, i.e., by tempting Him. (Exodus science and learning, above the all– Sunday, March 1, 2009 17:2–7) such that Moses renamed the surpassing wisdom of God revealed to Litany in Procession place Horeb as Massah, Hebrew vm us in the loving sacrifice and teaching Exhortation (msh) ‘temptation’. And when we pray of Blessed , almighty God Psalm 94 (95) we say: incarnate. Solemn Mass & Sermon Fourth Communion Service O that today you would hearken to Let us pray therefore for grace to His voice! help us in time of need, to keep us in 10:30 a.m. harden not your hearts as at Meribah the virtue of humility which counters Convent Chapel (provocation), as on the day of pride, and to link that with our Lenten temptation (Massah) in the desert, fasting in a way which strengthens us when your fathers tempted me and spiritually by attenuating the allures put me to the test, though they had with which the pleasures of the senses seen my works. otherwise can overcome their good, Here we can see the two different moderate enjoyment. Fasting without “voices” of temptation, the active and prayer is nothing more than dieting; the passive: we actively tempt God by prayer with fasting sees us through putting Him to the test as the Israelites the world, the flesh, and the devil and did in the wilderness at Horeb or as keeps from the temptation of putting SOLEMN EVENSONG did Jesus in the wilderness across God to the test. & BENEDICTION the Jordan, and passively when we are Deacon Michael Connolly 5:00 p.m. tempted by God. You may well ask ¶ The Revd. Dcn. Michael Connolly teaches Chapel of St. Theresa of Avila what loving father would ever lead his linguistics in Boston College and serves Church children into temptation in the first place primarily as Archdeacon at Holy Cross Preacher: and therefore need we even ask not to Armenian Catholic Church in Belmont. be led into temptation? In a few epic He assists frequently in the Anglican Use. The Very Revd. Arthur Kennedy cases the Father specifically permits His most recent contribution to Contra Rector, Saint John’s Seminary, Mundum was in August 2008. Brighton Contra Mundum Page 59

COMPASSION Jesus treats us with compassion, with patience, and we are going to spend MEANS all our lives to be like Him. That is ‘WITH PATIENCE’ what it means to be a Christian. We just heard a great reading WO days ago was Ash Wednes- from the prophet Isaiah. He lived day. And the church was filled T a long time before Jesus, but was with people who all had a large black inspired to write about Jesus. Isaiah mark on their foreheads. Most of the STATIONS is so important for the Christian time we try to keep our faces washed. message that we sometimes call him OF THE CROSS But on this day we all had this large the “fifth evangelist” after Matthew, black mark. It was our admitting to BENEDICTION Mark, Luke, and John. In the lesson ourselves and to each other that we OF THE BLESSED today Isaiah tells us what God wants. do not belong in the Lord’s house. He wants us to be compassionate. It SACRAMENT We sin against the Lord, and we means releasing those unjustly held Fridays in Lent know it and admit it. prisoner; sharing food with the hun- 7:00 p.m. But why then didn’t we all leave gry; providing shelter and clothing Chapel of St. Theresa of Avila the Church. Nobody left. It was be- for the homeless and needy; and not Church th cause when the priest put the mark forgetting your own family. March 6 , Fr. Bradford, preaching on our foreheads it wasn’t just any March 20th, Deacon Michael J. There are many people who suf- black mark. It was the Sign of the Connolly, preaching fer. Some day we will all look on Cross. And the Cross is the great people with less interest in what sign of God’s mercy, kindness, and they do than in what they suffer. forgiveness. But we know right now that there We have another word for it: COM- are two ways to be closest to Our PASSION. And that is the virtue Lord Jesus. One is when we come word you are thinking about and to Mass and receive his Body and practicing during this month. Com- Blood. The other is when we are passion comes from two Latin words compassionate, when we treat those and it means WITH PATIENCE. God around us, and especially those who looks on our weakness with patience. suffer, WITH PATIENCE. Lent is a We all hope that one day we will go great time to understand your virtue to Heaven because at the end of our word COMPASSION. Remember life God has looked on our weakness the black cross of ashes two days WITH PATIENCE. ago. We admit we need Jesus to show As Catholic Christians, we are fol- us compassion. And nothing pleases lowers of Jesus Christ; that means we His heart more than when we show try with His grace to do what He tells compassion to others. us. We are not satisfied to remain in ¶ A sermon preached by Father Bradford at our weakness, in our sin. We want to a St. Theresa School Mass March 2, 2001. be like Jesus. ¶ The story of Our Lord with One of the ways to be like Jesus is to the Samaritan Woman at the Well is appointed for Sunday Mass on the be compassionate: to treat the weak- th ness and unkindness of other people Third Sunday of Lent (March 15 with patience. How easy it is to lash this year) in Year A, and optional in Daylight Saving Time returns out, to strike back, to get even. But the other two years of the Lection- on Sunday, March 8th. ary cycle. Page 60 Contra Mundum

the opposite is true in this case. Jo- journ in might entitle him to The Great seph was not the equal of Mary, the become patron of refugees. By his t oseph greatest of all saints, and still less the search for Jesus lost in the temple, he S . J equal of Jesus, the divine Son. He ex- could be taken as a patron of anxious OSEPH was an eminently just perienced the humbling task of being parents. man, faced with an apparent J responsible for persons more holy As the most chaste spouse of Mary, conflict between two obligations: and gifted than himself. It fell to his Joseph exemplifies chastity in its obedience to the law and love for lot to decide on the difficult journey perfection. His faith and obedience Mary. If Mary had been unfaithful to to , then on the flight to to all the messages that came to him him, as he had reason to suspect, the Egypt, and finally on the trip back through the mediation of angels can law required that he should divorce to . In all this he watched help us to believe wholeheartedly in her. He felt bound to observe that over his wife and child, protected God’s word and be obedient to those law, but out of love for Mary he did them from all dangers, and provided whom God places over us as bishops not wish to bring any charge against for their material needs by his labor. or superiors. For us, they are God’s her. His solution, as prudent as it At Nazareth he instructed Jesus in messengers or angels. was gentle, was to handle the matter the trade of carpentry or building. The Church encourages us to pray discreetly without any public accusa- From Joseph, then, we can learn tion. Even this procedure would have to Joseph in every need. The great what it means to be a true husband mystic Teresa of Avila said of him: been painful to him, but he was saved and father. from dismissing Mary by the ’s “It seems that to other saints our In 1870 Pope Pius IX proclaimed assurance that her child had been Lord has given power to help us in Joseph patron of the universal conceived not from a human father only one kind of necessity; but this Church. This might seem surpris- but from the Holy Spirit. glorious saint, I know by my own ing since Joseph died before the experience, assists us in all kinds of Church was founded, but Joseph’s Joseph the father necessities.” little family was already the seed of For all that, Joseph puts us under How shall we describe Joseph’s the Church. As head of this sacred no obligation to call upon him. In his relationship to Jesus? He is some- household, Joseph entered into his modesty, he is content that we should times called the “foster father” or role as protector of all who through turn, if we prefer, to some other saint, the “adoptive father.” But Jesus had grace were to become adopted broth- to Mary, or Jesus himself. As we can no other human father. According ers and sisters of Jesus. Mary already see from the , he is to Jewish law, the naming of the embodied what the Church is called satisfied to fulfill his great role in child is the prerogative of the father, to be. Joseph’s twofold relationship salvation history unobtrusively, re- and Joseph received from the angel to Jesus and Mary was the nucleus of maining in the background. He is so the mandate to call the child Jesus. his relationship to the whole Mystical quiet that Scripture does not record Even without being the physical or Body, head and members. a single word he spoke. His silence, biological father, Joseph was the too, can be a model for us. legal father and had all the rights Joseph the patron and responsibilities going with that Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. may be seen as having office. ¶ Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. (1918–2008) special bonds with many groups in was a convert to Catholicism and longtime the Church. Because he labored with McGinley Professor of and Society Joseph the husband his own hands, Pius XII instituted the in Fordham University, New York City. In As husband of Mary and father of feast of Joseph the Worker on May 2006, Cardinal Dulles gave an address at Jesus, Joseph had the extraordinary 1. Because he presumably died with an Anglican Use Conference in Scranton, PA. This article was written for dignity of being head of the Holy Jesus and Mary at his side, he is the magazine and appeared in the March 2005 Family. The function of being head patron of the dying. His paternal (Volume 6, Number 14) issue. Used with or patriarch does not necessarily im- virtues would seem to qualify him permission. ply any personal superiority. Indeed, to be the patron of fathers. His so- Contra Mundum Page 61

Jesus also wept over degradation men had suffered, and THOUGHTS FOR because by her unwillingness to in the same act gave us the grace to LENT believe she was bent on her own better our condition. By the purple ruin, and upon the temple, once so robe he signified his kingship, by the F his own free will Jesus ran to renowned, he passed sentence of reed he hinted at the weakness and meet those sufferings that were O utter destruction. Patiently he put rottenness of the devil’s power. By foretold in the Scriptures concerning up with being struck in the face by a taking the slap in the face, and thus him. He had forewarned his disciples man who was doubly a slave, in body suffering the violence, corrections about them several times; he had and in spirit. He allowed himself and blows that were due to us, he rebuked Peter for being reluctant to be slapped, spat upon, insulted, proclaimed our freedom. to accept the announcement of his tortured, scourged and finally cru- passion, and he had made it clear His side was pierced as Adam’s cified. He accepted two robbers as that it was by means of his suffer- was; yet there came forth not a his companions in punishment, on ing that the world’s salvation was woman who, being beguiled, was to his right and on his left. He endured to be accomplished. This was why be the death-bearer, but a fountain of being reckoned with murderers and he stepped forward and presented life that regenerates the world by its criminals. He drank the vinegar and himself to those who came in search two streams: the one to renew us in the bitter gall yielded by the unfaith- of him, saying: I am the one you are the baptismal font and clothe us with ful vineyard of Israel. He submitted looking for. For the same reason he the garment of immortality, the other to crowning with thorns instead of made no reply when he was accused, to feed us, the reborn, at the table with vine twigs and grapes; he was and refused to hide when he could of God, just as babes are nourished ridiculed with the purple cloak, have done so, although in the past with milk. holes were dug in his hands and his he had slipped away on more than Theodoret of Cyr, bishop feet, and at last he was carried to the one occasion when they had tried to ¶ Theodoret (c. 393–c. 458) was bishop of grave. apprehend him. Cyrrhus in Syria and held Nestorian views All this he endured in working out (two separate persons in the Incarnate our salvation. For since those who Christ) at least until 434–5. His exegetical works on the books of the Old Testament are were enslaved to sin were liable to the considered first rate. penalties of sin, he himself, exempt from sin though he was and walking in the path of perfect righteousness, underwent the punishment of sinners. By his cross he blotted out the decree of the ancient curse: for, as Paul says: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us; for it is written: “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree.” And by his he put an end to that punishment meted out to Adam, who after his sin had heard the sentence: Cursed is the ground because of you; SAINT JOSEPH’S DAY thorns and thistles shall it bring forth Thursday, March 19, 2009 for you. Solemn Mass & Sermon In tasting the gall, Jesus took on Chapel of St. Theresa of Avila himself the bitterness and toil of SATURDAY LOW MASS AT Church man’s mortal, painful life. By drink- 9:00 a.m. 7:30 p.m. ing the vinegar he made his own the Convent Chapel Page 62 Contra Mundum

SHORT NOTES THE @ Many thanks to Father Craig de Spell Eva back and Ave shall you Paulo for being our preacher at find, nd Candlemas on February 2 . He is The first began, the last reversed a Catholic priest of the Byzantine our harms; (Greek) Catholic Church and is as- An angel’s witching words did Eva sistant professor of in blind, Boston College. An angel’s Ave disenchants the @ During Lent, prior to , charms: the Litany or Decalogue preceeds Death first by woman’s weakness Sunday Mass. Copies of these devo- entered in, tions are provided in the chapel. In woman’s virtue life doth now @ The Magnificat Lenten companion begin. is available for purchase for $3.00 per copy. Meditations are provided O virgin breast! The heavens to THE ANNUNCIATION OF for every day of Lent. thee incline, OUR LORD In thee their joy and sovereign @ Lenten coin folders have been mailed to parishioners. Extra fold- they agnize; JESUS CHRIST ers are available in the rear of the Too mean their glory is to match TO THE chapel. Proceeds benefit the work of with thine, BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese Whose chaste receipt God more Wednesday, March 25, 2009 of Boston. than heaven did prize. Solemn Mass & Sermon th Hail fairest heaven, that heaven and Convent Chapel @ The Saturday, March 14 Mass will earth dost bliss, 7:30 p.m. be a year’s mind Mass for parishioner Where virtues stars, God sun of Marysia Swanberg. justice is! @ On Saturday, February 7th a year’s mind Mass was celebrated for Ste- With haughty mind to Godhead phen Molloy, son of Bob and Gloria. man aspired, May he rest in peace. And was by pride from place of @ Confessions are heard in Saint pleasure chased; Theresa’s Church by the parish cler- With loving mind our manhead gy every Saturday from 3:00–4:00 God desired, p.m. in the chapel. In addition, Fa- And us by love in greater plea- ther Bradford hears confessions on sure placed; Thursdays before First Fridays after Man laboring to ascend procured LORD, we beseech the 4:00 p.m. Mass. In Lent those our fall, Othee, mercifully to hear dates are March 5th and April 2nd. God yielding to descend cut off our our prayers, and spare all @ Easter flower envelopes are avail- thrall. those who confess their sins able in the chapel. Please contribute Father Robert Southwell, S.J. unto thee; that they, whose to the cost of decorating the chapel ¶ Fr. Southwell (1561–95) wished to become consciences by sin are ac- for Easter. a Jesuit at age seventeen and was refused cused, by thy merciful pardon @ Inquirers’ classes meet many because too young. So he walked to Rome, and was admitted there in 1578. A notable may be absolved; through Thursdays with the chaplain in the writer of both prose and poetry, his execu- Christ our Lord. Amen. Saint Theresa Rectory. Meeting time tion greatly shocked England. Fr. Southwell is 7 p.m. A syllabus is available. was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. Contra Mundum Page 63

inexorably to a death sentence pro- journey safely by night. In the end, British nounced against him just two weeks he was betrayed by an informer and later. He made the most of his time as captured while staying at the home Martyrs a prisoner, converting thirty people of a Catholic family. Then about VER the years 200 men and during this two-week interval. On the seventy, Father Atkinson was led Owomen have been beatified for day of his execution, Father Pilcher to prison together with the couple their heroic witness to the Catholic Faith was dragged through the streets so that had hosted him, and their chil- in the British Isles during and after the roughly that he momentarily fainted dren. The “incriminating evidence” Protestant Reformation. Here we con- from the ordeal upon reaching the found by the government officials tinue brief mention of some of these scaffold. He suffered death by draw- in the priest’s possession consisted individual martyrs. ing and quartering. of rosary beads and the text of an Reprinted from Magnificat, March 2007, Vol. 8, Blessed Thomas Pilcher indulgence. Condemned to death No. 14, p. 306. With permission of Magnificat® Priest and Martyr (c. 1557–1587) by drawing and quartering, Father USA, LLC, Dunwoodie - 201 Seminary Avenue, Atkinson is said to have faced death NLY a year after earning a Yonkers, New York 10704 or Web site: www. “with wonderful patience, , master’s degree at Oxford Uni- magnificat.net. All rights reserved. O and constancy, and signs of great versity, Thomas Pilcher, of Battle, comfort.” England, resigned from his Oxford Blessed Thomas Atkinson Reprinted from Magnificat, March 2005, fellowship to begin seminary stud- Priest and Martyr (c. 1546–1616) Vol. 6, No. 14, p. 156. With permission of ies abroad. Following his March HOMAS Atkinson, of York- Magnificat® USA, LLC, Dunwoodie - 201 1583 ordination to the priesthood in Tshire, England, studied for the Seminary Avenue, Yonkers, New York 10704 Laon, France, he returned to Eng- priesthood in Reims, France, where or Web site: www.magnificat.net. All rights reserved. land to serve the country’s Catholics he was subsequently ordained in 1588 persecuted under Queen Elizabeth around the age of forty-two. Return- I. Father William Warford, a con- ing to England, he traveled about on The Congregation temporary of Father Pilcher, said of foot to minister to his fellow Catho- him, “There was not a priest in the lics, becoming a special friend of the of Saint Athanasius whole west of England who, to my poor among them. It was only after The Revd. Richard Sterling Bradford, knowledge, was his equal in virtue.” breaking a leg that the indefatigable Chaplain After being captured and banished priest resorted to traveling by horse Saint Theresa Convent from England in 1585, Father Pilcher instead. His labors in the service of quickly re-entered the country in se- persecuted Catholics became so well Chapel cret to resume his pastoral labors. His known that, to escape arrest by the 10 St. Theresa Ave. second arrest in March of 1587 led Protestant authorities, he could only West Roxbury, Mass. (Enter through the side door.)

Mark Your Calendars Sundays 10:30 a.m. In April, Stations of the Cross and Sung Mass Benediction is on Friday, April 3rd Fellowship and Coffee in the at 7 p.m. Lounge after Mass Holy Week is April 5th–12th. Mass of the Lord’s Supper is celebrated on Maundy Thursday, Rectory: April 9th at 7:30 p.m. 767 West Roxbury Pkwy. Easter Day is April 12th. Boston, MA 02132-2121 The next Evensong & Benediction Tel/Fax: (617) 325-5232 th is Sunday, April 19 at 5 p.m. http://www.locutor.net Page 64 Contra Mundum St. Theresa Church and Convent Chapel, West Roxbury, MA 02132 Pine Lodge Road (off St. Theresa Avenue) Park either in the church parking lot or on Pine Lodge Road. The side door of the convent is open during the time of our services. Directions by Car: From the North: Route 128 to Route 109, which becomes Spring Street in West Roxbury. Spring Street ends at a traffic light at Cen- tre Street in sight of the church. At this light bear left onto Centre St. and immediately turn right at the next light onto St. Theresa Ave. From the South: Route 1 north through Dedham to Spring Street. Turn right onto Spring Street then follow the directions above. From Dorchester and Mattapan: Cummins High- way to Belgrade Avenue to Centre Street left on St. Theresa Ave. From Boston: VFW Parkway to LaGrange Street. Turn left onto LaGrange Street, crossing Centre Street and turn right onto Landseer Street. Turn left into the church parking lot. Directions by Public Transportation: Orange line to Forest Hills terminal. Bus to West Roxbury. #35 bus to Dedham Mall. #36, #37, and #38 also stop at St. Theresa’s. Commuter train to West Roxbury Station is a short walk to St. Theresa’s. Departs from South Station, but no Sunday service is available.

Contra Mundum The Congregation of St. Athanasius 10 St. Theresa Avenue West Roxbury, MA 02132