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Thursday 16 May 2013

Weep for the children

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-elementary-school-has-leading-uk-gay-lobby-group-educate-students


From a friend of CS


As the deer that longs for running water...


Praise God from KL through CS blog carer

http://www.spiritdaily.com/Ourladycape.htm

This blog has long (over a year) been warning all readers against this pernicious site and false seer, who undermines the teaching and authority of Catholic Church.

Poems from the Monastery Two

Exodus 18 and 19

Zipporah, wandering bird
waiting in the tents of Yitro

Faithful to the wandering Jew
now crossing the Sea of Red.

She and her two sons, the
second, one of promise

Like Isaac, Jacob, second
but chosen-Eliezer-while

Zipporah weeps for Gershom,
passes the springs, not sharing

In the four cups of seder.
How long will this bird wander?

Moses no longer mere shepherd
but king, steps forward, taking

Yitro into his tent, the
mirror-image of times past.

The wandering bird is left
outside, the Kushite beauty

Separated, not loved, like
Sarah, Rebecca, or Rachel

Sisters in the Lord, sans gold
since the new Revelation.

Moses becomes God's eunuch.
The bird fades into the desert.



Poems from the Monastery

I have written three poems while here at Tyburn--here is one.

May 1535 for the Feast of the Tyburn Martyrs

Cherry blossoms fell in muddied lanes
--the bridgegrooms' path.

White chevaliers on wooden horses,
not stomping greys,

Taunt, not chants met their ears
which disregarded discord.

Fair Houghton, fair men witnessed
by the lone lawyer through

Slit-stone windows--long day
of hesed love, long memories

As we stand here at Tyburn.

Letters from the Monastery Five

a snake in the grass...

A scandal has happened here in the latest yearly lecture of the Mother General. I am sure she is as upset and disgruntled as I am, although I have not had a chance to talk with her. She has been gone, come back, and it getting ready for Nigeria.

What happened was that the lecturer was a heretic. Sadly, the title of his talk did not indicate his weak thinking and criticisms of, (talk about arrogance), of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI's stand against modernist heresies.

This man seemed to think that Pope Francis would open to door to change the teaching of the Church regarding socialism and other forms of political governance  as well as criticizing the idea that the Church must be protected by the State. He spoke of the anti-modernist encyclicals as part of the "power plays" of the Church in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Arrgh. Also, he noted that the Church had been wrong about Galileo. What an old and silly argument.

How he got into Tyburn is a mystery of evil. Thank God, the attendance was lower than usual. But, I saw this as Christ, yet again, being killed on Calvary, and that the greatest evil in the Church are apostatized Catholics.

We were all invited to the lecture, in silence, in the enclosure, but only four nuns and myself attended. Good thing. I felt as if I were at the foot of the Cross. For almost 40 years, I have fought against modernist heresies and to have this man speaking thus in the Home of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus was too much for me.

Later on, I went back to the chapel and cried for the desecration of My Lord's Body on the Cross. The Crucified One suffers daily from the evil done by Catholics. This man did not believe in the authority of the Popes, merely seeing their ideas as antiquated. Can you believe a lecturer upholding modernist heresies at Tyburn? All I could to was weep and pray, as, of course, being in, I could not question him in the tea and coffee afterwards.

One nun sitting next to me, a young one, stood up and walked out, saying quietly, "This man is a heretic."

He even criticized Cardinal Pell and the Archbishop of Southwark who has come out against SSM. Sad, sad, sad. One can google the statement from Peter Smith and Vincent Nichols, I am sure, on the upcoming review, or rather passing, of the SSM bill in Parliament.

...Satan was allowed a nasty laugh here in the chapel, but he knows the war is lost, even though this battle was won. How many people in the audience were led astray? Most of the nuns are very orthodox, faithful daughters of the Church. I did see a The Tablet in the common room, but there are The Tablet(s) in Buckfast, and in the back of most Catholic churches in this fair country. What can I expect? The Mother Novice hates the The Tablet as well. I told her about the famous blogging sign from Father Tim,  "Tabula delenda est". She loved it. 

I spoke with Mother Novice Mistress about it, as she could not be at the lecture.I learned later on that the lecturer left without going to the do afterwards. Last year, the speaker was Lord Alton, and how I wish this year's speaker was in the same category. A shock to the system....

Letters from the Monastery Four

It is nice to have permission to have access to my son through the phone and letters. Once I am formally in the novitiate, I shall not be able to send or receive letters or calls for six months.

There is a real need for young vocations here in London, in Ireland and Scotland. Most of the nuns in the order are under 49, but not here.

Sadly, there is only one very old Irish nun and a very few English ones. Most of the vocations are coming from the East, and now, Nigeria. One reason is that the Western girls lack stamina and the understanding of penance.

Kneeling on wooden floors, sleeping in school beds from the 1940s, and eating what is given, rather than having choices, are activities mostly not understood by the modern world. Benedict understood the road to perfection, as all these things destroy self-will. One really understands the Scripture about becoming a new creation, and Christ's words to Nicodemus about being born again when one is giving up all semblance of personality and the ideas one had of one's self.

This is an amazing stripping of self which I am experiencing daily. Many tears, but many graces....one feels like a newborn child, waiting for God.

Today, Mother Novice Mistress in class noted that the society (I would use the term culture) creates vocations, or does not do so.

Sad that the Anglo-Saxons and Celtic girls have no interest in Tyburn. What a great challenge. If they could only see and experience the joy and love of this community--but, where is the desire?

One must want to be taken into the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and follow Him wherever He is.

I fit in, so far, so far....

To be continued...

Letters from the Monastery Three--tidbits for women readers

For those women readers who are interested, poverty dictates that one only changes clothes three times a week and bedding once a month. Poverty means that one owns nothing and if one runs out of something, like shampoo, one asks the Mother Novice Mistress. I brought plenty of things with me here.

One must wear white nightgowns and it is freezing in the convent and in London. Again, I have permission to use my duvet and have a hot water bottle. There is no heat in the convent at this time and the temperature drops into the high 50s at night.

Cleaning, which is on my list of chores, involves using brooms, dustpans and mops--no electric machines here, except for the wooden floor polisher. One lives in a "survival mode", which I totally expected. If one has seen or read The Road, it is helpful, as only that scenario is more dire.

Penance indicates that one suffers like the poorest of the poor. One of my favorite nuns, Sr. Escholastica, has a frayed habit because of the silly Velcro shoes all of us seem forced to buy, as black shoes with ties are almost impossible to find. The Velcro gets caught on the bottom of the habits.

She is so humble and so joyful. Joy is the mark of many of these nuns, even in their penances. Such a grace.

Three of the nuns will be going to Nigeria on May 14th. The foundation there is also calling four young ones in the area. The situation is, of course, dangerous, but the bishop asked the congregation last year to come and pray for peace, which is much needed.

I kissed the hands of the two young ones going out, saying that I wanted to kiss the hands of martyrs. They loved my action and all the nuns, even the ones here in London, talk about martyrdom. These are savvy women, not "pie-in-the-sky" people who think the good times are yet to come. I am so impressed with the level of intellectual honesty and humility of the mind-sets here.

A new foundation in France is being negotiated as well, which will bring the number of foundations to ten. God has chosen a real "builder" in the person of Mother General.