Divine Liturgy of St. Dionysius

Liturgy Of St Dionysius
LITURGY OF ST. DIONYSIUS

Dionysius the Areopagite, Works (1897) p.185-186. Preface to the Liturgy

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Alexandrine Liturgy

St. Pachomius Library

Divine Liturgy of St. Basil

Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
Introduction to the Divine Liturgy
LITURGICAL TEXTS - The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
Liturgy
The Divine Liturgy of St Basil
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
Basil Liturgy
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Liturgy of St. Basil

www.coptic.net/articles/CopticChurchLiturgy.txt
The Coptic Liturgy of St. Basil
The Coptic Liturgy
Divine Liturgy of the Coptic Orthodox Church
ST BASIL COPTIC LITURGY; ST. BASIL LITURGY (pdf)
Liturgy
Father Anthony Hanna, Liturgy of St. Basil
Father Yassa Rizk - Liturgy of St Basil
St. Basil's Liturgy (St. Anthony's Monastery); St. Basil's Liturgy
Divine Liturgy of the Coptic Orthodox Church

Introduction to the Divine Liturgy

Divine Liturgy of St. Mark

at Newadvent; The Divine Liturgy of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark; the divine liturgy of st. mark

eastern rites: a family tree

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Alexandrine Liturgy

Dom Columba Marmion, Sponsa Verbi

Sponsa Verbi by Dom Columba Marmion

Pope's Letter on Florentine Saint

Pope's Letter on Florentine Saint
"A Symbolic Figure of a Living Love"



VATICAN CITY, JULY 12, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the letter Benedict XVI sent in to Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, archbishop of Florence, on the fourth centenary of the death of St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi.

* * *

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF FLORENCE
ON THE OCCASION OF THE FOURTH CENTENARY OF THE DEATH
OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE DE' PAZZI

To His Eminence
Cardinal Ennio Antonelli
Archbishop of Florence

On the occasion of the Fourth Centenary of the death of St Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, I am pleased to unite myself to the beloved Florentine Church who wishes to remember her illustrious daughter, particularly dear as a symbolic figure of a living love that recalls the essential mystical dimension of every Christian life.

While with affection I greet you, Your Eminence, and the entire diocesan community, I give thanks to God for the gift of this Saint, which every generation rediscovers as uniquely close by knowing how to communicate an ardent love for Christ and the Church.

Born in Florence on 2 April 1566 and baptized at the "beautiful St John" font with the name Caterina, St Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi showed a particular sensitivity to the supernatural from childhood and was attracted by intimate colloquy with God.

As was the custom for children of noble families, her education was entrusted to the Dames of Malta, in whose monastery she received her First Holy Communion on 25 March 1576, and just some days later she consigned herself to the Lord for ever with a promise of virginity.

Returning to her family, she deepened her prayer life with the help of the Jesuit Fathers, who used to come to the palace. She cleverly did not allow herself to be conditioned by the worldly demands of an environment that, although Christian, was not sufficient to satisfy her desire to become more similar to her crucified Spouse.

In this context she reached the decision to leave the world and enter the Carmel of St Mary of the Angels at Borgo San Frediano, where on 30 January 1583 she received the Carmelite habit and the name of Sr Mary Magdalene.

In March of 1584, she fell gravely ill and asked to be able to make her profession prior to the time, and on 27 May, Feast of the Trinity, she was carried into the choir on her pallet, where she pronounced before the Lord her vows of chastity, poverty and obedience for ever.

From this moment an intense mystical season began which was also the source of the Saint's great ecstatic fame. The Carmelites of St Mary of the Angels have five manuscripts in which are recorded the extraordinary experiences of their young Sister.

"The Forty Days" of the summer of 1584 are followed by "The Colloquies" of the first half of the following year. The apex of the mystical knowledge that God granted of himself to Sr Mary Magdalene is found in "Revelations and Intelligences", eight days of splendid ecstacies from the vigil of Pentecost to the Feastday of the Trinity in 1585. This was an intense experience that made her able at only 19 years of age to span the whole mystery of salvation, from the Incarnation of the Word in the womb of Mary to the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Five long years of interior purification followed - Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi speaks of it in the book of "The Probation" - in which her Spouse, the Word, takes away the sentiment of grace and leaves her like Daniel in the lions' den, amid many trials and great temptations.

This is the context in which her ardent commitment to renew the Church takes place, after which, in the summer of 1586, splendours of light from on high came to show her the true state of the post-Tridentine era.

Like Catherine of Siena, she felt "forced" to write some letters of entreaty to the Pope, Curial Cardinals, her Archbishop and other ecclesial personages, for a decisive commitment to "The Renovation of the Church", as the title of the manuscript that contains them says. It consists of 12 letters dictated in ecstasy, perhaps never sent, but which remain as a testimony of her passion for the Sponsa Verbi.

With Pentecost of 1590 her difficult trial ended. She promised to dedicate herself with all her energy to the service of the community and in particular to the formation of novices. Sr Mary Magdalene had the gift to live communion with God in an ever more interior form, so as to become a reference point for the whole community who still today continue to consider her "mother".

The purified love that pulsated in her heart opened her to desire full conformity with Christ, her Spouse, even to sharing with him the "naked suffering" of the Cross. Her last three years of life were a true Calvary of suffering for her. Consumption began to clearly manifest itself: Sr Mary Magdalene was obliged to withdraw little by little from community life to immerse herself ever more in "naked suffering for love of God".

She was oppressed by atrocious physical and spiritual pain which lasted until her death on Friday, 25 May 1607. She passed away at 3 p.m., while an unusual joy pervaded the entire monastery.

Within 20 years of her death the Florentine Pontiff Urban VIII had already proclaimed her Blessed. Pope Clement IX inscribed her in the Roll of Saints on 28 April 1669.

Her body has remained incorrupt and is the destination of constant pilgrimages. The monastery where the Saint lived is today the seat of the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Florence, which venerates her as their Patron, and the cell where she died has become a chapel in whose silence one can still feel her presence.

St Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi continues to be an inspiring spiritual figure for the Carmelites Nuns of the Ancient Observance. They see in her the "Sister" who has travelled the entire way of transforming union with God and who finds in Mary the "star" of the way to perfection.

This great Saint has for everyone the gift of being a spiritual teacher, particularly for priests, to whom she always nourished a true passion.

I truly hope that the present jubilee celebrations commemorating her death will contribute to making this luminous figure ever better known, who manifests to all the dignity and beauty of the Christian vocation. As, while she was alive, grasping the bells she urged her Sisters with the cry: "Come and love Love!", may the great Mystic, from Florence, from her Seminary, from the Carmelite monasteries that draw their inspiration from her, still make her voice heard in all the Church, spreading to every human creature the proclamation to love God.

With this wish, I entrust you, Venerable Brother, and the Florentine Church to the heavenly protection of St Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi and heartily impart to all a special Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 29 April 2007
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

The Life of Benedict, by St. Gregory the Great

The Second Book of the Dialogues

Intratext Edition CT

St. Benedict on humility

From the Rule of St. Benedict.

CHAPTER VII
Of Humility

Brethren, the Holy Scripture crieth to us saying: "Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Lk 14:11; 18:14). Since, therefore, it saith this, it showeth us that every exaltation is a kind of pride. The Prophet declareth that he guardeth himself against this, saying: "Lord, my heart is not puffed up; nor are my eyes haughty. Neither have I walked in great matters nor in wonderful things above me" (Ps 130[131]:1). What then? "If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul; as a child that is weaned is towards his mother so shalt Thou reward my soul" (Ps 130[131]:2).

Hence, brethren, if we wish to reach the greatest height of humility, and speedily to arrive at that heavenly exaltation to which ascent is made in the present life by humility, then, mounting by our actions, we must erect the ladder which appeared to Jacob in his dream, by means of which angels were shown to him ascending and descending (cf Gen 28:12). Without a doubt, we understand this ascending and descending to be nothing else but that we descend by pride and ascend by humility. The erected ladder, however, is our life in the present world, which, if the heart is humble, is by the Lord lifted up to heaven. For we say that our body and our soul are the two sides of this ladder; and into these sides the divine calling hath inserted various degrees of humility or discipline which we must mount.

The first degree of humility, then, is that a man always have the fear of God before his eyes (cf Ps 35[36]:2), shunning all forgetfulness and that he be ever mindful of all that God hath commanded, that he always considereth in his mind how those who despise God will burn in hell for their sins, and that life everlasting is prepared for those who fear God. And whilst he guardeth himself evermore against sin and vices of thought, word, deed, and self-will, let him also hasten to cut off the desires of the flesh.

Let a man consider that God always seeth him from Heaven, that the eye of God beholdeth his works everywhere, and that the angels report them to Him every hour. The Prophet telleth us this when he showeth God thus ever present in our thoughts, saying: "The searcher of hearts and reins is God" (Ps 7:10). And again: "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men" (Ps 93[94]:11) And he saith: "Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off" (Ps 138[139]:3). And: "The thoughts of man shall give praise to Thee" (Ps 75[76]:11). Therefore, in order that he may always be on his guard against evil thoughts, let the humble brother always say in his heart: "Then I shall be spotless before Him, if I shall keep myself from iniquity" (Ps 17[18]:24).

We are thus forbidden to do our own will, since the Scripture saith to us: "And turn away from thy evil will" (Sir 18:30). And thus, too, we ask God in prayer that His will may be done in us (cf Mt 6:10). We are, therefore, rightly taught not to do our own will, when we guard against what Scripture saith: "There are ways that to men seem right, the end whereof plungeth into the depths of hell" (Prov 16:25). And also when we are filled with dread at what is said of the negligent: "They are corrupted and become abominable in their pleasure" (Ps 13[14]:1). But as regards desires of the flesh, let us believe that God is thus ever present to us, since the Prophet saith to the Lord: "Before Thee is all my desire" (Ps 37[38]:10).

We must, therefore, guard thus against evil desires, because death hath his station near the entrance of pleasure. Whence the Scripture commandeth, saying: "Go no after thy lusts" (Sir 18:30). If, therefore, the eyes of the Lord observe the good and the bad (cf Prov 15:3) and the Lord always looketh down from heaven on the children of men, to see whether there be anyone that understandeth or seeketh God (cf Ps 13[14]:2); and if our actions are reported to the Lord day and night by the angels who are appointed to watch over us daily, we must ever be on our guard, brethren, as the Prophet saith in the psalm, that God may at no time see us "gone aside to evil and become unprofitable" (Ps 13[14]:3), and having spared us in the present time, because He is kind and waiteth for us to be changed for the better, say to us in the future: "These things thou hast done and I was silent" (Ps 49[50]:21).

The second degree of humility is, when a man loveth not his own will, nor is pleased to fulfill his own desires but by his deeds carrieth our that word of the Lord which saith: "I came not to do My own will but the will of Him that sent Me" (Jn 6:38). It is likewise said: "Self-will hath its punishment, but necessity winneth the crown."

The third degree of humility is, that for the love of God a man subject himself to a Superior in all obedience, imitating the Lord, of whom the Apostle saith: "He became obedient unto death" (Phil 2:8).

The fourth degree of humility is, that, if hard and distasteful things are commanded, nay, even though injuries are inflicted, he accept them with patience and even temper, and not grow weary or give up, but hold out, as the Scripture saith: "He that shall persevere unto the end shall be saved" (Mt 10:22). And again: "Let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord" (Ps 26[27]:14). And showing that a faithful man ought even to bear every disagreeable thing for the Lord, it saith in the person of the suffering: "For Thy sake we suffer death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom 8:36; Ps 43[44]:22). And secure in the hope of the divine reward, they go on joyfully, saying: "But in all these things we overcome because of Him that hath loved us" (Rom 8:37). And likewise in another place the Scripture saith: "Thou, O God, hast proved us; Thou hast tried us by fire as silver is tried; Thou hast brought us into a net, Thou hast laid afflictions on our back" (Ps 65[66]:10-11). And to show us that we ought to be under a Superior, it continueth, saying: "Thou hast set men over our heads" (Ps 65[66]:12). And fulfilling the command of the Lord by patience also in adversities and injuries, when struck on the one cheek they turn also the other; the despoiler of their coat they give their cloak also; and when forced to go one mile they go two (cf Mt 5:39-41); with the Apostle Paul they bear with false brethren and "bless those who curse them" (2 Cor 11:26; 1 Cor 4:12).

The fifth degree of humility is, when one hideth from his Abbot none of the evil thoughts which rise in his heart or the evils committed by him in secret, but humbly confesseth them. Concerning this the Scripture exhorts us, saying: "Reveal thy way to the Lord and trust in Him" (Ps 36[37]:5). And it saith further: "Confess to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever" (Ps 105[106]:1; Ps 117[118]:1). And the Prophet likewise saith: "I have acknowledged my sin to Thee and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord; and Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sins" (Ps 31[32]:5).

The sixth degree of humility is, when a monk is content with the meanest and worst of everything, and in all that is enjoined him holdeth himself as a bad and worthless workman, saying with the Prophet: "I am brought to nothing and I knew it not; I am become as a beast before Thee, and I am always with Thee" (Ps 72[73]:22-23).

The seventh degree of humility is, when, not only with his tongue he declareth, but also in his inmost soul believeth, that he is the lowest and vilest of men, humbling himself and saying with the Prophet: "But I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people" (Ps 21[22]:7). "I have been exalted and humbled and confounded" (Ps 87[88]:16). And also: "It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy commandments" (Ps 118[119]:71,73).

The eighth degree of humility is, when a monk doeth nothing but what is sanctioned by the common rule of the monastery and the example of his elders.

The ninth degree of humility is, when a monk withholdeth his tongue from speaking, and keeping silence doth not speak until he is asked; for the Scripture showeth that "in a multitude of words there shall not want sin" (Prov 10:19); and that "a man full of tongue is not established in the earth" (Ps 139[140]:12).

The tenth degree of humility is, when a monk is not easily moved and quick for laughter, for it is written: "The fool exalteth his voice in laughter" (Sir 21:23).

The eleventh degree of humility is, that, when a monk speaketh, he speak gently and without laughter, humbly and with gravity, with few and sensible words, and that he be not loud of voice, as it is written: "The wise man is known by the fewness of his words."

The twelfth degree of humility is, when a monk is not only humble of heart, but always letteth it appear also in his whole exterior to all that see him; namely, at the Work of God, in the garden, on a journey, in the field, or wherever he may be, sitting, walking, or standing, let him always have his head bowed down, his eyes fixed on the ground, ever holding himself guilty of his sins, thinking that he is already standing before the dread judgment seat of God, and always saying to himself in his heart what the publican in the Gospel said, with his eyes fixed on the ground: "Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to lift up mine eyes to heaven" (Lk 18:13); and again with the Prophet: "I am bowed down and humbled exceedingly" (Ps 37[38]:7-9; Ps 118[119]:107).

Having, therefore, ascended all these degrees of humility, the monk will presently arrive at that love of God, which being perfect, casteth out fear (1 Jn 4:18). In virtue of this love all things which at first he observed not without fear, he will now begin to keep without any effort, and as it were, naturally by force of habit, no longer from the fear of hell, but from the love of Christ, from the very habit of good and the pleasure in virtue. May the Lord be pleased to manifest all this by His Holy Spirit in His laborer now cleansed from vice and sin.

Prayer & the Work of God

Prayer & the Work of God
Reflections on the Daily Office & the Prayer of the Heart

by Robert Louis Wilken

This article, originally titled “Opus Dei,” was originally given as an address by the author, June 2, 1997, for the Sixth Annual Banquet of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.

I spent last spring living at Sant’ Anselmo, a Benedictine house of studies and monastery in Rome. It was not, as some of the younger monks from contemplative houses elsewhere reminded me, un vero monastero, a genuine monastery, because monks came from all over the world and would return to their home communities, and they were not under the discipline of the local abbot. But for this visitor from the United States it had enough of the rhythms of the monastic life and its practices (breakfast in silence, reading at the evening meal, praying the office in choir) to give me a feel for un vero monastero.

My reason for going was that I wanted to spend some time living, to use current sociological jargon, in a thicker Catholic culture than central Virginia. One thinks that in being received into full communion with the Catholic church one is being received into a large international fellowship extending to every corner of the earth. But what I discovered was that I had taken up residence in the diocese of Richmond—what a friend once called a missionary diocese. So you can perhaps appreciate why I felt a strong urge to spend some time in Rome. Though I am embarrassed to say that the second Sunday after I arrived I visited the local parish church in Testaccio, the neighborhood down the hill from Sant’ Anselmo, and the first thing I heard on entering the church was the dispiriting sound of guitars warming up for the liturgy.

The chapel at Sant’ Anselmo is a late nineteenth-century Byzantine revival building with a spacious choir for singing the office and a large semicircular domed apse. The monks allowed me to participate fully in their daily prayer and on cold winter mornings—there was no heat in the church, fortunately I had the prescience to pack long underwear—as I took my place in the choir stall I would look up at the apse mosaic. Christ was in the center and to the right stood Saint Anselm and to the left St. Benedict, both bowing in adoration of the Risen Lord. Next to St. Benedict were written the words, “Nihil operi Dei praeponatur,” that is, “Let nothing take precedence over God’s work.”

The words come from Benedict’s Rule and the work (opus) that is at the center of the monastic life is praying the divine office, the daily recitation of the psalms. It is this phrase, “Nihil operi Dei praeponatur,” that I would like to speak about for a few minutes this evening.

Work is not a term we are accustomed to use in referring to prayer, at least not in the nonmonastic context. Perhaps obligation, responsibility, or from another perspective, “play.” Liturgy is something we do for its own sake, for ends that are within the action itself, as in playing a game; liturgy is not instrumental. But the term work carries other connotations that are appropriate to the monastic context, and to daily prayer in the lives of the faithful outside the monastery. As the months passed and I contemplated Benedict’s saying each day, I realized that here, as in many other things, St. Benedict had a profound insight into the Christian life.

One image can illustrate what I mean. Morning prayer was at 6:20 a.m. and a bell rang in the halls at 5:50. By 6:10 as I made my way to the church I would meet or pass monks scurrying to find their place in the choir or in one of the chapels in the cavernous building.

But before getting to my point perhaps I should say a bit about the daily schedule at Sant’ Anselmo. The language of prayer in the house was Latin and the offices were sung in plainchant except for morning prayer. Pope Paul VI had charged the Benedictines with keeping alive the Latin office in Gregorian chant and Sant’ Anselmo has taken on that responsibility as its own. But because the community of 120 monks is an international group, a few years back they decided to have daily morning prayer and weekday Mass in language groups (on Sundays they are in Latin). So each morning there is a Latin group, an Italian group, and French, German, and English groups for morning prayer and Mass.

The other offices are in Latin: midday prayer, which took place at 12:50 in the chapter room immediately before pranzo (which always began with pasta or risotto, meat or fish course, fruit—all accompanied by local white wine followed of course by a riposo); full sung vespers in the main chapel at 7:15, then cena, the evening meal with readings from the Rule and other books; and compline at 8:30 in the main church. I attended the Italian morning prayer and Mass in the church.

As the monks scurried about the building in the darkness of the early morning, thinking their own thoughts, I began to realize that “work” was the proper term to depict what they were about. They reminded me of workers walking silently in the cold morning darkness into a factory. The other image that comes to mind is that as the monks arrive in their stalls they busy themselves shuffling papers, opening books to the proper page, flattening out pages, putting in book marks—preparing, as it were, their tools for the task that is before them. The divine office requires a different kind of participation than the Mass, which can be done without a book in the hands of the faithful (something that has impressed me about Catholicism), and taking part requires preparation and organization.

But what made the deepest impression on me was the incessancy and regularity of the office. One of the monks there, Jeremy Driscoll (you may have seen his review of Aidan Nichols’s Thinking about the Liturgy in the May issue of First Things), is a poet. In one of his poems he speaks about his feelings as he stood in the chapel of his monastery (Mt. Angel in Oregon) on a hot August afternoon to pray the office all the while thinking of what others were doing to beat the heat:

The monks chant their prayer in the hot church
but their heart is not in it.
Only their vows bring them here and keep them
at the hot and useless task.

Gone are the sweet first good days
when prayer and singing came easy.
Gone as well many brothers
who used to stand here singing
the feasts with them.

They know there are ways to beat this heat
and that Americans everywhere are finding them
but they beat instead the tones of psalms
and, by beating,
fall through the layers of heat
and the layers of prayer
and are standing there now
only with their sound
and their sweat
everything taken from them
except the way that this day in August has been.

(Some Other Morning, Brownsville, Oregon: Story Line Press, 1992)

It is easy to be romantic about monastic life until one sees it at close range. The permanence of it all is overwhelming to the mind. Day in and day out, week after week, month upon month, and year following year, the vocation of the monk is to be found at his place, organizing his books as he prepares his mind and heart for the work that is pleasing to God, the offering of himself in prayer.

At the beginning of the Antiphonale, the book of variable antiphons and hymns and prayers used at Sant’ Anselmo, one can find a prayer to be recited before the office begins:

Aperi Domine os meum ad benedicendum nomen sanctum tuum: munda quoque cor meum ab omnibus vanis, perversis et alienis cogitationibus: intellectum illumina, affectum inflamma; ut digne, attente ac devote hoc officium recitare valeam, et exaudire merear ante conspectum divinae Majestastis tuae. Per Christum Dominum Nostrum qui vivit et regnat in unitate spiritus sancti per saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Open, Lord, my mouth to bless your holy name. Cleanse my heart from all idle, distorted, and unsuitable thoughts. Enlighten my intellect, set fire to my affections that worthily, attentively and faithfully I may be able to pray this office and that my prayer will be worthy of rising before your divine majesty. Through Jesus Christ. . . .

The phrases that stick in my mind are “munda cor meum” and “affectum inflamma.” Cleanse my heart from all distracting and foreign thought and kindle my affections, set fire to my heart. If the office is a work, one would perhaps expect the accent to be on “will” and the prayer to read, “strengthen my will for the task ahead,” but it focuses on the heart and the mind.

On the first reading, “cleansing the heart” seems a far piece from “work,” yet the work that St. Benedict was speaking about is prayer, and without the heart there can be no prayer pleasing to God. Some months back I began marking the verses in the psalms that mentioned the heart. Each day as I read the psalms appointed for that day I found myself underlining the term “heart” when it occurred. To my astonishment, “heart” occurs, I estimate, in fully half, maybe even two-thirds of the psalms. I have not done a statistical study, nor have I consulted a concordance. I wanted to find out the old fashioned way, reading the psalms myself (so if there are any biblical scholars here you may be able to prove me wrong—but not by much). Here are a few examples chosen at random:

“My heart is firmly fixed, O God, my heart is fixed.” (Ps. 57)

“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.” (9)

“My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.” (13)

“I keep the Lord always before me. . . . Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices.” (16)

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (19)

“Thou hast said, ‘Seek ye my face.’ My heart says to thee, ‘Thy face, Lord, do I seek.’” (27)

“My heart became hot within me.” (39)

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (51)

“Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” (84)

“Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (90:12)

“I incline my heart to perform thy statutes.” (199:112)

The activity of the heart even carries over into our sleep. “In the night my heart instructs me.” (16) Some of you may know the compline hymn, “To thee before the close of day” in Latin: Te Luci Ante Terminum. Notice the beginning of the second stanza: Te corda nostra somnient, te per soporem sentiant. “Our hearts dream of you, they have you in mind while we sleep.”

The heart is the organ of prayer, even when we are not conscious of what we are doing. Unlike the mind which is acquisitive, aggressive, critical, competitive, the distinctive mark of the heart is receptivity, openness, pliability—it is a place to be filled, a thing to be ignited. The mind receives on its own terms, always filtering, discriminating, judging, but the heart is patient; it waits, watches, listens, making space for what it is to receive. The heart thrives on stillness and quiet and delights not in its own cleverness but in the presence of the beloved.

Perhaps some of you know the little book by Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God. It was put in my hands by Robin Darling Young, my sponsor (in Italian, la mia madrina), when I was received into full communion. The Reed of God is a meditation on the Blessed Virgin Mary, specifically on her virginity. Virginity in the minds of many is associated with negative qualities, childlessness, barrenness, impotence, emptiness, but, says Houselander, virginity means an emptiness that is waiting to be filled. It is the emptiness of the Marian “fiat,” “let it be done to me,” of humility and obedience and patience. Mary’s “fiat” is the voice of the heart. Houselander uses three images to speak of the heart that is waiting to be filled: the hollow in a reed whose narrow emptiness can have only one destiny, to receive the piper’s breath and utter the song that is in his heart; the curve of the cup shaped to receive water or wine; the round warm ring of a bird’s nest ready to receive the tiny egg.

Those who complain the loudest of the emptiness of their lives are often people whose lives are overcrowded and for whom “work” is the business of making admittedly laudable plans and carrying out the useful and necessary activities that occupy our days. What St. Benedict teaches us is that there is another work, far more important, far more enduring than what we call work: the quiet, patient, regular, repetitious, habitual work of cultivating the heart in prayer. St. Augustine says that the Christian life is a holy longing (pium desiderium), and just as a leather sack will stretch to make room for what we put in it, so the heart cultivated by the work of prayer stretches to make place for Christ’s dwelling within us, or in the words of the first great Christian poet, Prudentius, the “privilege of entertaining the Holy Trinity” (honorem Trinitatis hospitae).

The work of prayer is tutoring the heart, a quite different work than training the mind or disciplining the will. The more one prays the psalms the more one realizes that one will not learn anything new. One knows the meaning of the words, the ideas are familiar, the historical allusions commonplace. Why then keep repeating them? We say them again and again so that their words can become our words, but more, that their feeling, their affections, their desires, can become our feelings, affections, and desires.

Prayer is an apprenticeship in keeping the first commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. . . .” It is a work without ending, as necessary to our inner life as the rhythm of breathing is for our physical life, and it occupies us for a lifetime and beyond.

St. Bernard comments on “I have hidden your words in my heart.” “Keep God’s words in this way. Let it enter into your very being, let it take possession of your desires and your life. Feed on goodness and your souls will delight in its richness. Remember to earn your bread in this way or your heart will wither away.”

As for the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, I can only remind you of the words of the great monastic writer, Evagrius: “A theologian is one who prays, and one who prays is a theologian.” All our theological efforts, whether they be combating the forces of secularism in our society, or contesting apostasy within the church, will be in vain if we are not men and women of prayer, whose hearts are filled with yearning for the living God, and whose lives display the inner peace that comes from daily intercourse with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Reprinted from A Report from the Center, Summer 1997.

Dr. Robert Louis Wilken is a professor of history at the University of Virginia, and author of Remembering the Christian Past, published in 1995.

Grim Beginnings; Rome's Duality

Grim Beginnings; Rome's Duality
Italians Mark Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul



By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, JULY 5, 2007 (Zenit.org).- June 29 reigns as one of the most glorious holidays in Rome. For the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, the basilicas of the two great martyrs are decked in all their finery. The freshly polished baldachin of St. Peter's glistens, the marble floors of St. Paul's gleam, the bronze statue of St. Peter is adorned with a splendid tiara, ring and cope, and both churches are filled with fragrant red roses to symbolize and honor their martyrdoms.

But the origins of this grand feast day were in a far grimmer place. We find them, not in a glamorously festooned basilica, nor in a sunny piazza, but in the dark, dank, underground chamber of the Mamertine prison. The "carcer" or prison of Rome was a small underground cell, next door to the Senate building and described in 40 B.C. by Roman author Sallust as "12 feet deep, closed all around by strong walls and a stone vault. Its aspect is repugnant and fearsome from its neglect, darkness and stench."

The prison was not used for long-term incarceration -- that was not a Roman practice -- but for execution of defeated enemy rulers after they had walked in the triumphal parade of the victorious generals. Thus King Jugurtha of Numidia was left to starve underground by Gaius Marius and Vercingetorix was strangled in the wake of Caesar's triumph.

But for all the famous warriors who defied Rome, it would be a fisherman and a tent maker, imprisoned just a few feet away from where Caesar had been cremated and deified, who would overthrow the empire.

According to tradition, Peter and Paul were imprisoned by Emperor Nero after the apostles had exposed the deceits of Simon Magus. The two apostles were in the custody of two Roman soldiers, Processus and Martinian.

These two guards were converted by Peter and Paul and longed to be baptized, but no water was to be had in the foul prison. So Peter struck the ground with his staff causing water to bubble forth. Cleansed of original sin by the prince of the apostles himself, Processus and Martinian also became witnesses to Christ, following Peter and Paul as martyrs. Their feast day falls three days later on July 2.

On June 29, Peter and Paul were taken from their prison. The two men saluted each other one last time before Paul was led out the eastern gate of Rome to be beheaded and Peter was brought west to the Vatican hill where he was crucified upside down.

To this day, the basilicas of St. Peter's and St. Paul Outside the Walls face each other from opposite sides of the city watching over and protecting Rome in their embrace. Halfway between the two, the Mamertine prison lies hidden under the 16th-century church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters.

Since the fourth century, pilgrims have come to visit the little cell, to see the rock where the apostles were chained, the fountain formed by Peter's staff and remember the humble beginnings of Christianity in Rome.

* * *

Sacred and Profane

Sts. Peter and Paul are the patrons of Rome, and even with the secularization of Italy and various political vicissitudes, patron days remain major holidays. Even Bologna under communist administration honored the feast of St. Petronius. Everything -- banks, supermarkets and gas stations -- are closed for the day, and the streets are devoid of the daily Roman traffic.

Side by side with the religious celebrations, however, entertainment and activities that seem to have no relation to the supreme sacrifice of the martyrs animate the day. But in Rome, the sacred and profane often meet in unexpected places.

In the Rome of Early Christianity, the Romans celebrated June 29 with processions, accompanying the Pope to the three churches associated with the martyrs. From St. Peter's Basilica, they made their way to St. Paul Outside the Walls and ended at the catacombs in Basilica of St. Sebastian.

The remains of Sts. Peter and Paul were removed to the catacombs of St. Sebastian during the era of persecutions for safekeeping. In fact, several scholars suppose that June 29 was the date of the return of the relics to their original sites rather than the day of the martyrdoms.

The Romans have always loved festivities, and gradually the solemn processions were followed by spectacles, music and banquets. As with the solemnity of the Epiphany, where the solemn Masses for the Three Wise Men were complemented by the child's tale of the Befana, yesterday Rome exhibited its dual nature again.

While Benedict XVI distributed the pallium to the new archbishops, and diaconate ordinations were taking place, 300 volunteer organizations were setting up stands in the city center for the "Notte Bianca," or white night, evocative of pagan celebrations of the summer solstice, when stores, museums and restaurants remain open all night.

Watching the Romans dancing in the streets in the shadow of the pagan temples of Hercules and Portunus, one's first impression might be that Rome had come full circle to when St. Paul first disembarked on the shores of the Tiber.

But a closer look showed that the evening paid homage to Italians who volunteer their time and talents, from firemen to teachers, and that a theme was to encourage the Romans to offer assistance to those in need. In this light, the evening bore a surprising similarity to early Christian Rome, where even the Emperor Julian the Apostate was impressed by the "impious Galileans, who take care of their own poor and ours."

Granted, many of these organizations are still a long way from the spirit of "Deus Caritas Est," Benedict XVI's first encyclical, but a willingness to give of oneself is certainly a step in the right direction.

The spirit of Sts. Peter and Paul didn't limit itself to healing social breaches, but also seemed to unite political divides. Two opposing political factions cooperated to celebrate Italian volunteers and their works.

For this special day, the sacred and profane in Rome didn't clash, but complemented each other in bringing out the best of the Italians.

* * *

Old St. Peter's

The astounding collections of the Vatican Museums enjoy worldwide fame, but another lesser-known collection on Vatican turf often goes unnoticed. The Treasury Museum of St. Peter's Basilica is a small but remarkable selection of art, historical artifacts and liturgical objects from the 1,700-year-old history of the most famous church on earth.

Nestled off in the sacristy wing of St. Peter's, the Treasury Museum helps reconstruct the first St. Peter's, the ancient church visited by millions of pilgrims, which was destroyed in 1506 by the architect Donato Bramante to make way for the new basilica.

The first basilica dedicated to St. Peter was built by Constantine in the fourth century, who gave six stunning columns of twisting white marble to surround Peter's tomb. Most of the columns are now placed high up in the balconies of the modern basilica, but one is in the museum, where visitors today can enjoy its exotic beauty like the pilgrims of old.

Diagrams and drawings reveal the plan of the old church, while a bronze rooster, symbol of Peter's denial of Christ, perches high above the room. Medieval tour guides regaled pilgrims with the legend that the relics of the cock that crowed three times on the morning of Christ's passion were contained inside.

A smattering of the church's wondrous relic collection awaits in other halls, including a fragment of the true cross, as well as the remains of martyrs, evangelists and sainted Popes. A copy of the chair Peter used as Bishop of Rome sits in large glass case. The original is contained in Bernini's huge bronze throne floating above the altar of the Cathedra.

Great moments in pilgrimages are recorded in the museum. An ancient parchment bearing the papal seal of Sts. Peter and Paul, declares the opening of the first Jubilee Year by Boniface VIII in 1300.

Another case houses the tiara placed on the head of the bronze statue of St. Peter on his feast day of June 29. Nearby are the statues of the two apostles, as well as the candelabra that to this day adorns the altar of the Holy Father when he celebrated Mass in the basilica.

A startling artifact harks back to the first years of the basilica. The fourth-century sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, prefect of Rome, who died shortly after converting to Christianity, is one the highest quality carved marble coffins ever found. It was found close to the tomb of St. Peter when the foundations for the new basilica were being laid in the 16th century.

The tomb of Sixtus IV stands apart as the most beautiful work in the collection. Made for Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere (1471-1481) by Florentine sculptor Antonio Pollaiuolo, this 14- by 7-foot floor tomb in bronze is one of the most ambitious burial projects in the history of art.

The bronze effigy of the Pope rests on a raised bier flanked by allegorical personifications of the virtues. The platform in turn, lies atop a supported decorated with the liberal arts, the first time they were showed in a funerary monument.

The recently restored monument occupies a whole room with a balcony so visitors can climb up and view the astonishing tomb from above. It becomes easy to see how the nephew of Sixtus, Pope Julius II, could dream of the grand tomb planned by Michelangelo, three stories high and covered with 40 sculptures, but never completed.

One monument recalls the greatest Florentine artist to work in St. Peter's, Michelangelo. A little round room, similar to the chapel that originally welcomes the Pietà when it was first unveiled in 1500, contains the plaster cast made in the 1930's at the outbreak of World War II. When the statue was repeatedly hammered in 1972 by the sculptor Tot, this cast allowed restorers to refashion the nose of Mary, destroyed by the attack.

While there are many bejeweled liturgical objects and even a dazzling display of diamond stars donated by the entire Catholic world to celebrate the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, there remain surprisingly few "treasures" for a church of this age and importance.

Much of the reason is that during its long history, St. Peter's has been sacked many times, its gold altar cloths burned, the silver liturgical vessels melted and the jeweled reliquaries stolen.

But the precious memories of the basilica museum bear witness to the fact that Christian treasure is not measured in gold and gems, but in the history of the faith and devotion at St. Peter's.

* * *

Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University's Italian campus. She can be reached at lizlev@zenit.org.

On St. Basil

On St. Basil
"He Shows Us How to Be Real Christians"



VATICAN CITY, JULY 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today at the general audience. The audience took place in two phases: The Pope first greeted a crowd in St. Peter's Basilica. Then he went to a packed Paul VI Hall, where he delivered the catechesis. The reflection focused on St. Basil and concluded with an appeal to young people to attend World Youth Day '08 in Australia.

* * *

[Before giving the catechesis, the Pope greeted crowds in St. Peter's Basilica. In English, he said:]

I am happy to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present today. May your visit to this Basilica and to the city of Rome inspire you to imitate the apostles in following Christ and serving the Church. I assure you of my prayers for your families and friends at home, especially those afflicted by illness or suffering of any kind. God bless you all!

[Then, in Paul VI Hall, the Pope gave a catechesis on St. Basil]

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Today we remember one of the great Fathers of the Church, St. Basil, defined by Byzantine liturgical texts as a "light of the Church." He was a great bishop of the fourth century, to whom the Churches of the East and West look with great admiration because of his sanctity of life, the excellence of his doctrine and the harmonious synthesis of his speculative and practical skills.

He was born around the year 330 to a family of saints, "a true domestic Church," who lived in an atmosphere of profound faith. He carried out his studies with the best teachers of Athens and Constantinople. Unfulfilled by his worldly successes, and aware of having lost much time in vain pursuits, he himself confesses: "One day, waking up from a deep sleep, I turned to the wonderful light of the truth of the Gospels … and cried over my miserable life" (cf. Letters 223: PG 32, 824a). Attracted by Christ, I began to look to him and listen to him alone (cf. "Moralia" 80, 1: PG 31, 860bc).

He dedicated himself with determination to the monastic life in prayer, meditation on the sacred Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers of the Church, and to the exercise of charity (cf. Letters 2 and 22), following the example of his sister, St. Macrina, who was already living monastic asceticism. He was later ordained a priest and then, in 370, bishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia in what is present day Turkey.

Through preaching and writing, he carried out intense pastoral, theological and literary activities. With wise balance, he was able to blend service to souls with dedication to prayer and meditation in solitude. Taking advantage of his own personal experience, he favored the foundation of many "fraternities" or Christian communities consecrated to God, which he frequently visited (cf. Gregory of Nazianzus. "Oratio 43,29 in Laudem Basilii": PG 36,536b). Through his words and his writings, many of which still exist today (cf. "Regulae Brevius Tractatae, Proemio": PG 31,1080ab), he exhorted them to live and to grow in perfection. Many drew from his writings to establish norms of ancient monasticism, including St. Benedict, who considered St. Basil his teacher (cf. "Regula" 73:5).

In reality, St. Basil created a special kind of monasticism, not closed off from the local Church, but open to it. His monks were part of the local Church, they were its animating nucleus. Preceding others of the faithful in following Christ and not merely in having faith, they showed firm devotion to him -- love for him -- above all in works of charity. These monks, who established schools and hospitals, were at the service of the poor and showed Christian life in its fullness. The Servant of God, John Paul II, speaking about monasticism, wrote: "Many believe that monasticism, an institution so important for the whole Church, was established for all times principally by St. Basil -- or that, at least, the nature of monasticism would not have been so well defined without Basil's decisive contribution" ("Patres Ecclesiae," 2).

As bishop and pastor of his vast diocese, Basil constantly worried about the difficult material conditions in which the faithful lived; he firmly condemned evils; he worked in favor of the poor and marginalized; he spoke to rulers in order to relieve the sufferings of the people, above all in moments of disaster; he looked out for the freedom of the Church, going up against those in power to defend the right to profess the true faith (cf. Gregory of Nazianzus, "Oratio 43: 48-51 in Laudem Basilii": PG 36,557c-561c). To God, who is love and charity, Basil gave witness by building hospitals for the needy (cf. Basil, Letters 94: PG 32,488bc), much like a city of mercy, that took its name from him "Basiliade" (cf. Sozomeno, "Historia Eccl." 6,34: PG 67, 1387a). It has been the inspiration for modern hospital institutions of recovery and cure of the sick.

Aware that "the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium," 10), Basil, though he was concerned with charity, the sign of faith, was also a wise "liturgical reformer" (cf. Gregory of Nazianzus, "Oratio 43,34 in Laudem Basilii": PG 36,541c). He left us a wonderful Eucharistic prayer (or anaphora) which is named after him, and helped to organize the prayer and the psalmody:

Because of him the people loved and knew the Psalms, and came to pray them even during the night (cf. Basil, "In Psalmum" 1,1: PG 29,212a-213c). In this way we can see how liturgy, adoration and prayer come together with charity, and depend upon each other.

With zeal and courage, Basil opposed heretics, who denied that Jesus Christ is God like the Father (cf. Basil, Letters 9,3: PG 32,272a; "Ep." 52: 1-3: PG 32,392b-396a; "Adv. Eunomium" 1,20: PG 29,556c). In the same way, contrary to those who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, he taught that the Spirit is also God, and "must be numbered and glorified with the Father and the Son" (cf. "De Spiritu Sancto": SC 17bis, 348). Because of this, Basil is one of the great Fathers that formulated the doctrine of the Trinity: one God, because he is love, he is God in three persons, who form the most profound unity in existence, divine unity.

In his love for Christ and his Gospel, the great Cappadocian also worked to heal the divisions within the Church (cf. Letters 70 and 243), working so that all might be converted to Christ and his word (cf. "De Iudicio" 4: PG 31,660b-661a), a unifying force, which all believers must obey (cf. ibid. 1-3: PG 31,653a-656c).

In conclusion, Basil spent himself completely in faithful service to the Church in his multifaceted episcopal ministry. According to the program laid out by him, he became "apostle and minister of Christ, dispenser of the mysteries of God, herald of the kingdom, model and rule of piety, eye of the body of the Church, pastor of Christ's sheep, merciful physician, father and nurturer, cooperator with God, God's farmer and builder of God's temple" (cf. "Moralia" 80: 11-20: PG 31: 864b-868b).

This is the program that the holy bishop gives to those who proclaim the word -- yesterday like today -- a program that he himself generously put into practice. In 379, Basil, not yet 50 years old, consumed by hard work and asceticism, returned to God, "in the hope of eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ" ("On Baptism" 1,2,9). He was a man who truly lived with his gaze fixed on Christ, a man of love for his neighbor. Full of the hope and the joy of faith, Basil shows us how to be real Christians.

[Translation of the catechesis by ZENIT; original English © Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana]

[The Pope then greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our catechesis on the church Fathers today brings us to the great fourth-century bishop, Saint Basil, whom the Byzantine liturgy refers to as a "light of the Church." Though he had received the best education possible, at the conclusion of his studies he yearned to learn more. He discovered that only Christ could fulfill him, and so dedicated himself completely to a monastic life of prayer and charitable works. Ordained Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia in 370, Basil tirelessly cared for his people and devoted himself continuously to meditation on the sacred word. He attended to the material needs of his flock, supported the poor and marginalized, and defended the freedom to profess the Christian faith. A special love for the sick led him to found many hospitals. Basil's pastoral activity flowed from a deep devotion to the sacred liturgy; in fact, the Church still possesses a Eucharistic prayer bearing his name. Basil also firmly corrected those who denied the divinity of either Christ or the Holy Spirit. We find in Basil an outstanding model of free, total, and uncompromising service to the Church. May God give us the courage to imitate him.

I extend a cordial greeting to the English-speaking pilgrims present at today’s audience, especially the athletes and organizers of the European Maccabi Games. May God bestow abundant blessings upon all of you!

[The Pope then made an appeal to young people:]

Dear Young People,

One year from now we will meet at World Youth Day in Sydney! I want to encourage you to prepare well for this marvelous celebration of the faith, which will be spent in the company of your bishops, priests, Religious, youth leaders and one another. Enter fully into the life of your parishes and participate enthusiastically in diocesan events! In this way you will be equipped spiritually to experience new depths of understanding of all that we believe when we gather in Sydney next July.

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). As you know, these words of Jesus form the theme of World Youth Day 2008. How the Apostles felt upon hearing these words, we can only imagine, but their confusion was no doubt tempered with a sense of awe and of eager anticipation for the coming of the Spirit. United in prayer with Mary and the others gathered in the Upper Room (cfr Acts 1:14), they experienced the true power of the Spirit, whose presence transforms uncertainty, fear, and division into purpose, hope and communion.

A sense of awe and eager anticipation also describes how we feel as we make preparations to meet in Sydney. For many of us, this will be a long journey. Yet Australia and its people evoke images of a warm welcome and wondrous beauty, of an ancient aboriginal history and a multitude of vibrant cities and communities. I know that already the ecclesial and government authorities, together with numerous young Australians, are working very hard to ensure an exceptional experience for us all. I offer them my heartfelt thanks.

World Youth Day is much more than an event. It is a time of deep spiritual renewal, the fruits of which benefit the whole of society. Young pilgrims are filled with the desire to pray, to be nourished by Word and Sacrament, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, who illuminates the wonder of the human soul and shows the way to be "the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ" (Deus Caritas Est, 33).

It is this love -- Christ's love -- for which the world yearns. Thus you are called by so many to "be his witnesses." Some of you have friends with little real purpose in their lives, perhaps caught up in a futile search for endless new experiences. Bring them to World Youth Day too! In fact, I have noticed that against the tide of secularism many young people are rediscovering the satisfying quest for authentic beauty, goodness and truth. Through your witness you help them in their search for the Spirit of God. Be courageous in that witness! Strive to spread Christ's guiding light, which gives purpose to all life, making lasting joy and happiness possible for everyone.

My dear young people, until we meet in Sydney, may the Lord protect you all. Let us entrust these preparations to Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians. With her, let us pray: "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your love."

© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

On St. Cyril of Jerusalem

On St. Cyril of Jerusalem

"His Catechesis Spans God's Entire Plan of Salvation"

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today at the general audience in Paul VI Hall. The reflection focused on St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our attention today will be focused on St. Cyril of Jerusalem. His life represents the coming together of two dimensions: on one side, pastoral care and, on the other, involvement in the controversies that weighed upon the Church of the East at that time.

Born in 315 in Jerusalem, or in the surrounding areas, Cyril received a fine literary formation that became the basis of his ecclesiastical knowledge through the study of the Bible.

He was ordained a priest by Bishop Maximus. When Maximus died and was buried, in 348, Cyril was ordained a bishop by Acacius, the influential metropolitan of Caesarea in Palestine, a follower of Arius who was convinced he had an ally in Cyril. Hence, Cyril was suspected to have received the episcopal nomination through concessions given to Arianism.

Cyril soon found himself at odds with Acacius for doctrinal as well as juridical reasons, because Cyril reinstated the autonomy of his own see, separating it from that of the metropolitan of Caesarea. During 20 years or so, Cyril suffered three exiles: the first in 357, by decree of a synod of Jerusalem; a second in 360 by Acacius; and a third in 367 -- the longest, lasting 11 years -- by Emperor Valens, a follower of Arianism. Not until 378, after the death of the emperor, was Cyril able to resume possession of his see, bringing back unity and peace to the faithful.

Despite certain writings from his day that call into question his orthodoxy, others of the same epoch defend it. Among the most authoritative is the synodal letter of 382, after the ecumenical council of Constantinople in 381, in which Cyril had a significant role. In that letter, sent to the Roman Pontiff, the Eastern bishops officially recognize the absolute authority of Cyril, the legitimacy of his episcopal ordination and the merits of his pastoral service, which death brought to an end in 387.

We have 24 of his celebrated catecheses, which he wrote as a bishop around the year 350. Introduced by a "Procatechesis" of welcome, the first 18 are addressed to catechumens or illuminandi (in Greek "photizomenoi") and were kept in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher.

The first five deal with the dispositions required to receive baptism, conversion from pagan customs, the sacrament of baptism and the ten dogmatic truths contained in the creed or symbol of faith.

The following catecheses, Nos. 6-18, make up a "continual catechesis" of the Symbol of Jerusalem, which is anti-Arian. Of the last five, Nos. 19-23, the so-called mystagogical ones, the first two develop a commentary on the rites of baptism, the last three deal with confirmation, the Body and Blood of Christ and the Eucharistic liturgy. There is also an explanation of the Our Father ("Oratio Dominica"), which establishes a path of initiation to prayer that develops parallel to the initiation with the three sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist.

The foundation of instruction in the Christian faith developed, although amid controversy against the pagans, Judeo-Christians and followers of Manichaeism. The development of the instruction was based on the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament, with a language rich with images. Catechesis was an important moment, inserted into the broad context of the entire life, and especially the liturgical life, of the Christian community. Within this maternal womb, the gestation of the future Christian took place, accompanied by the prayer and witness of the brethren.

Taken together, Cyril's homilies make up a systematic catechesis on the rebirth of the Christian through baptism. To the catechumen, Cyril says: "You have fallen into the nets of the Church (cfr. Matthew 13:47). Let yourself be taken alive: Do not run away, because it is Jesus who takes you to his love, not to give you death but the resurrection after death. You must die and rise again (cfr. Romans 6:11-14). … Die to sin, and live for justice, starting today" (Pro-Catechesis, No. 5).

From a "doctrinal" point of view, Cyril comments on the symbol of Jerusalem with recourse to the use of typology in the Scriptures, in a "symphonic" relationship between the two Testaments, pointing to Christ, the center of the universe. Typology will later be wisely described by Augustine of Hippo with these words: "The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New" ("De Catechizandis Rudibus," 4:8).

His catechesis on morality is anchored in profound unity to the doctrinal one: Dogma slowly descends into souls, which are asked to change their pagan ways to adopt new life in Christ, the gift of baptism. The "mystagogical" catechesis, was the height of instruction that Cyril imparted, no longer to catechumens, but to the newly baptized and neophytes during Easter week. He led them to discover the mysteries still hidden in the baptismal rites of the Easter vigil. Enlightened by the light of a faith, deepened in the strength of baptism, the neophytes were finally able to better understand the mysteries, having just celebrated the rites.

In particular, with the neophytes of Greek origin, Cyril focused on visual aspects, most suited to them. It was the passage from rite to mystery, which availed of the psychological effect of surprise and the experience lived in the Easter vigil. Here is a text explaining the mystery of baptism: "You were immersed in water three times and from each of the three you re-emerged, to symbolize the three days that Christ was in the tomb, imitating, that is, with this rite, our savior, who spent three days and three nights in the womb of the earth (cfr. Matthew 12:40).

"With the first emersion from the water you celebrated the memory of the first day that Christ spent in the tomb, with the first immersion you witnessed to the first night spent in the tomb: As he who in the night is unable to see, and he who in the day enjoys the light, you too experience the same thing. While at first you were immersed in the night and unable to see anything, reemerging, you found the fullness of day. Mystery of death and of birth, this water of salvation was for you a tomb and mother. … For you … the time to die coincides with the time to be born: One is the moment that achieved both events" ("Second Mystagogical Catechesis," No. 4).

The mystery to behold is God's design; this is achieved through the salvific actions of Christ in the Church. The mystagogical dimension complements that of symbols, expressing the lived spiritual experience that they cause to "explode." From St. Cyril's catechesis, based on the three components described previously -- doctrinal, moral and mystagogical -- there results a global catechesis in the Spirit. The mystagogical dimension brings about the synthesis of the first two, directing them to the sacramental celebration, in which the salvation of the entire person is realized.

It is an integral catechesis, which -- involving the body, soul and spirit -- remains emblematic of the catechetical formation of today's Christians.

[Translation by ZENIT]

[The Holy Father then greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing our catechesis on the great teachers of the early Church, we now turn to Saint Cyril of Jerusalem. Cyril is best known for his Catecheses, which reveal his orthodox doctrine and his pastoral wisdom. The Catecheses prepared the catechumens of the Church of Jerusalem first to receive the sacraments of Christian initiation, and then, after their Baptism, to understand more deeply the Church's faith as expressed in the sacred mysteries. Based on the "symphonic" harmony of the Old and the New Testaments, and centered on the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies of the coming of Christ, the Catecheses explained the articles of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, the reality of Baptism as an event of spiritual rebirth, and the importance of the sacramental life and personal prayer for every Christian. Cyril's catechesis spans God's entire plan of salvation, accomplished through the work of Christ in the Church. With their rich doctrinal, moral and mystagogical teaching, the Catecheses remain a model for instruction today, leading the whole person -- body, soul and spirit -- to a living experience of Christ's gift of salvation.

I extend a special welcome to the English-speaking visitors here today, including pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Kampala in Uganda, led by Archbishop Cyprian Lwanga. I also greet the group of supporters of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and participants in the Jewish-Christian dialogue symposium organized by the Focolari Movement, as well as various groups from Wales, Norway, Malawi Australia, India and the United States. Upon you all and your families at home, I invoke God's blessings of joy and peace.