Issue 41, Summer 2019 LLight of theO North: the magazine of the Diocese N of Aberdeen Pluscarden Pilgrimage p4Visit to Diocese of relics of St Thérèse p5 St Mary's Family Life Centre p7 Bishop George Hay p20 RC Diocese of AberdeenR.C. Diocese of Charitable Aberdeen Charitable Trust. Trust, A a registered registered Scottish Scottish Charity charityno. SC005122 no. SC005122 DIOCESE Contents The Little Flower any of us will have a favourite saint, someone DIOCESE with whom we have a particular affinity, whom NEWS ...........................................................................................3 Mwe feel will understand where we’re coming from. St Paul, my confirmation saint, has always been WITNESS a firm favourite but while I’ve always been able to A civilization of love and a culture of life ........................18 relate to Paul, St Thérèse of of Lisieux, whose relics Domodossola 'Way of the Cross'......................................19 will be coming to the Diocese in September, is another FAITH AND CULTURE matter! Oot an Aboot in Vézelay ......................................................19 We just didn’t hit it off, at least not at first. Her life and Bishop Hay - a truly remarkble man.................................20 her ‘Little Way’ seemed to be pervaded with a saccharine Coronation of the Virgin Mary...........................................21 sweetness which I found a bit off-putting. But now I've had to think again. Recently, I’ve been reading her Last Book Review - Northern Catholic History Notes...........23 Conversations1, the record of the conversations she had In search of women.................................................................24 with those who attended her during the last months of her St Hildegard of Bingen..........................................................25 life, including her three sisters. ELLEN - For our younger readers.....................................26 It is inspiring reading, for you get a real sense of the steely Suree Tingsomboon - her story........................................27 determination of this little saint and her indomitable will. Grumpy old man!...................................................................28 Even in the face of great physical suffering and agonising religious doubts she maintained a vehement trust that Food and Faith - Jollof Rice.................................................29 love could survive, even when faith seemed to have been Humour ....................................................................................30 eclipsed by darkness. Crossword ................................................................................31 Thérèse has much to teach our age; the age of the celebrity, when what seems important is the image we project of On the front cover this issue, a ourselves, an age when the idea of a loving and merciful detail showing the Virgin Mary from God is thought to be an insult to human intelligence and up a master-work by Hubert and Jan when technology is considered to have all the answers. Yet, van Eyck, 'The Ghent Altarpiece'. It at the same time, we remain at a loss as to how to fill the was completed in 1432 for Saint Bavo painful emptiness which lies within. Thérèse, like so many front saints, including my friend St Paul, sought to serve others, Cathedral in Ghent. to do something outside herself, to forget herself in quiet The lettering on the arched throne is taken from acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel a passage from the Book of Wisdom (7:29): "She is paradox that we gain our life by losing it, and that the seed more beautiful than the sun and the army of the stars; that falls to the ground must die in order to live. compared to the light she is superior. She is truly the reflection of eternal light and a spotless mirror of God". Have a great summer, Cowan Wording from the same source is on the hem of her robe. This is a serene Mary, already Queen of Heaven. She You'll find the itinerary for the visit of the relics of St Thérèse looks out from beneath a cascade of hair and is dressed on page 6 in a deep-blue robe, the darkness of which is alleviated by a golden hem, decorated with jewels. She is absorbed in a prayer book. Surrounding her fabulous crown are 1 St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Her Last Conversations, ICS Publications,U.S. (Dec. 1977), ISBN 096008763X twelve stars, an allusion to the Book of Revelation. The crown itself incorporates four types of flower, all of which The Light of the North is free of charge were Marian symbols: rose (love), lilies (virginity, purity) but a suggested donation of £1.00 will columbines (humility) and lily-of-the-valley (linking the be gratefully received and will be used song of songs, 2:1, to the Virgin Mary). directly to benefit your own parish. Managing Editor Advertising Manager Deacon Tony Schmitz Jim Skwarek 01233 658611 Editor [email protected] Cowan Watson 07816344241 The Light of the North [email protected] St Mary’s Cathedral 20 Huntly Street Editorial Advisor ABERDEEN Dr Glen Reynolds AB10 1SH www.lightofthenorth.org Page 2 DIOCESE A Letter from Bishop Hugh Gilbert O.S.B. us to our friends. When the relics of St. Thérèse were brought to England and Wales some ten years ago, about 300,000 people turned out to ‘pay their respects’ and pray. Relics give us a focus for something beyond themselves. St Thérèse of Lisieux was a paradox. She died at 24. She lived her last nine years in an enclosed convent. She belonged to an ultra-devout French Catholic world which some of us might find alien and disconcerting. But she began a spiritual revolution. She broke with a climate of fear and rediscovered the fatherhood of God and the tender mercy at its heart. She realized that trust was better than fear. She saw that even an Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, apparently insignificant life could, through love, take on a universal power. Hers was the age of Marx, Nietzsche and Between Friday 30 August and Thursday 19 September, Freud, and during the last, horribly painful, months of her life, Scotland will be graced by the visit of the Relics of St Thérèse of she came to understand the possibility of atheism from inside Lisieux (1873-1897). The Relics will be taken to each diocese and through that reached a new level of faith and abandonment. in turn, and will come to our own diocese from Monday 9th After her death and the publication of her autobiography and September to Thursday 12th September. They will be available other writings, she became immensely popular and was sensed as a focus of prayer at St Mary’s Cathedral from 9th to 11th as a powerful intercessor, intent in her own words to “spend September, at Pluscarden Abbey in the afternoon of the 11th [her] heaven doing good on earth.” Roses became the trademark and at St Mary’s Inverness on the 11th and 12th. A wealth of of her interventions. And, part of the paradox again, she was resources is being made available in preparation for the visit. I declared a patron saint of the missions. can refer you to the special website: www.littleflowerinscotland. By a happy, unintended timing, this “visit of St Thérèse” co.uk preludes the Extraordinary Mission Month called for by Pope We venerate the relics of saints because we venerate the body: Francis for this October. I hope this will engage all our parishes - our own and that of others: hence the virtue of chastity; and communities. See another website: www.october2019.va/ - the Body the Son of God took from his Virgin Mother, en.html The Pope is encouraging us to turn away from our which was transfigured on Mount Tabor, is now glorified in self-preoccupations, undergo a “missionary conversion” and heaven and present to us in the sacrament of the Eucharist; become more missionary-minded disciples. Hence this month - the Body of Christ which we are and are called to be, the of October, with its motto, ‘Baptised and Sent’. The Pope Church; would like us to reflect on the missionary nature of the Church - the bodies of the departed, which were temples of the Holy and the Christian life, remember some of the men and women Spirit and will be raised in glory: hence the reverence shown in who have embodied it and look again for the practical ways, our funeral liturgies. in our own environments, for living out and sharing our faith. Bishop George Hay (1729-1811), whom we’ve been May the visit of St Thérèse help good things happen among us remembering this year, once wrote that showing honour to this coming autumn! the remains of holy people corresponds to “the very natural disposition and frame of the heart of man.” In our ultra-hygienic Devotedly in Christ, world, we might recoil from the remains of the departed, but at + Bishop Hugh OSB the same time we naturally cherish what belongs and connects If you have access to the internet do take a look at some of the many inspiring talks and homilies given by Bishop Hugh Gilbert and other members of the clergy and which are now available on “You Tube”. These include videos of the Diocesan HUGH Faith Formation Seminars led by Bishop Hugh which cover a wide range of topics such as “Why does God allow evil?” and “The Seven Deadly Sins” . To access these videos just go to the You tube site and search for the Diocese of Aberdeen channel. Page 3 DIOCESE Diocesan pilgrimage to Pluscarden n Sunday 30th June parishioners from the Diocese of Aberdeen gathered at Pluscarden OAbbey for the annual Pilgrimage, celebrated this year on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. The day was blessed with fine weather, Pluscarden having escaped the hail, heavy rain, thunder and lightning which had affected much of the rest of the country.