Mother Teresa

Mother TeresaA Teenager, Mother Teresa and Cardinal Newman

I saw the saint (Mother Teresa) on three occasions. No, not Mother Teresa of Avila, but another giant like her. The encounters if one could call them such were very short and also very powerful.

The first occasion was when I was about to start sophomore year in high school in Philadelphia in 1976. The archdiocese celebrated a Eucharistic Congress attended by Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997). Pope Paul VI was ill and unable to attend but he addressed the congregation via satellite. A papal legate represented him, and Card. Wojytla, later Pope John Paul II, also attended with other Polish bishops as well as Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

My sister, who volunteered at the diocesan youth department, helped to organize the meeting with youth. We had a Youth Mass at the Spectrum Sports Arena, and for some reason Mother Teresa washed the feet of a few youth – I was one of them. I don’t remember much, but I know now that a saint touched my feet. Here is the link to an excellent piece on that memorable Eucharistic Congress.

Earlier in the week Mother Teresa spoke of Jesus, the Bread of Life, and of the St. Francis Prayer Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Years later, as a college student, wandering through the streets of Rome, I turned a corner of a narrow street and was almost run over by a group of thirty or so people, and trailing them was a small nun. She passed very close to me, and she was looking with kind and penetrating eyes, as she did. We did not speak, but the chance encounter was another memorable moment in my life.

The third time I saw Mother Teresa was, shortly afterwards, at the Basilica of Santa Sabina (named after a noble woman and convert martyred in the year 125) on the Aventine Hill. The church was filled to the brim, mostly with youth, and the little nun came up the podium. For thirty or so minutes she spoke slowly and deliberately about Christian love – about love for those around us and for the poor, and how God provides when we give to those in need.

She lived a holy life and she is now a saint in heaven. Pope Francis will canonize her on Sunday, September 4, 2016. We too are called to live holy lives, weak and sinful as we are but trusting in God and striving to love more each day. Jesus wishes to shine in us and through us.

There is a prayer that sums up a lot of the spirit lived by Mother Teresa. She had her sisters pray it each day after Holy Communion. The prayer, addressed to Jesus, was originally written by Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890). An adapted version reads:

Dear Jesus

Help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go.

Flood my soul with your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly

that my life may only be a radiance of yours.

Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with

may feel your presence in my soul.

 

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as you shine,

so to shine as to be a light to others.

 

The light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be mine.

It will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise you in the way which you love best,

by shining on those around me.

Let me preach you without preaching, not by words but by example,

by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do,

the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for you. Amen.

(Adaptation from Mediations and Devotions)

 

 

 

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Newman stresses that “The idea of a Christian, as set forth in Scripture, is something very definite.”

Aim at ‘seeing the King in His beauty’.  All things that we see are but shadows to us and delusions, unless we enter into what they really mean.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

The Psalms, the "voice of the Church," invite us to enter into the sufferings of Christ and His people, and cling to God above all.

Applying Newman's theory, it seems clear that the notion that women's ordination to to the priesthood, would not maintain the type of the early Church.

In 1990, the International Theological Commission, issued a document titled "The Interpretation of Dogma" in which Newman's seven notes are endorsed.

The path forward for us personally and for the Church at large, requires returning to the core truths that Christ Himself has revealed to us.

We are made to be gifts to God and gifts to each other, body and soul; to go against God’s law, which is for our good, is to refuse the gift.

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About Cardinal John Henry Newman

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A Guide to John Henry Newman will interest educated readers and professors alike, and serve as a text for college seminars for the purpose of studying Newman.

Review by Catherine Maybanks
(Catholic Herald, April 1, 2023)

Review by Serenheed James
(Antiphon, April 2023)

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Fr Peter Conley takes us on an exciting journey into the spirituality and inner life of Saint John Henry Newman.
 

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Endorsement by Neyra Blanco (Amazon)
I bought this book for my son and he loved it, he wrote this review and urged my to submitted: “I think this book has a very beautiful message, because it shows how the young Newman was so determined to achieve his dream of becoming a priest, but even after his dream he continued to work in the church with passion until the day he died, it’s so admirable that even Newman so old and so weak still had that urge to continued his work of being a priest. And the book is well written with words not too complicated with very enjoyable texts and well illustrated pictures. I highly recommend this book for a 5th grader.  

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What is a Classical Liberal Arts Education? Why is it so important for the development of a person?

Fr. Juan R. Vélez answers these and more questions you might have about University Education in the 21st century. This book is aimed for parents, prospective University students, and educators. It will help you discern why adding Liberal Arts electives to your education will help it form it better, and help the student learn to reason, and not just learn.

He also explains how many Universities have changed the true meaning of Liberal Arts, and the subjects, and gives advise on how to choose College Campus, Subjects, and Teachers.

A wonderful book that every parent should also read way before your children are College bound. A Liberal Arts education can start earlier in life, even from home.

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Endorsement by Christopher Moellering (Goodreads, September 14, 2019)
In Passion for Truth Fr. Vélez gave us an outstanding biography of Cardinal Newman. In this work, he provides a concise overview of his thought and his devotion. This is a great work for someone who, perhaps hearing of Newman for the first time because of his beatification 13 October, 2019, wants to know more about this English saint.Vélez is a wonderful writer in his own right, and the frequent quotations from Newman round out the work nicely. I especially appreciated the frequent citing of Newman’s Meditations and Devotions, which show a different side of his spirituality than his more well-known works, Development of Christian Doctrine and the Grammar of Assent.

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Take Five: Meditations with John Henry Newman, endorsement by Illow M. Roque (Amazon, September 3, 2010)
“There is a time to put direct inquiry on hold and give ourselves to prayer and practical duties.” Sound advice from one of the earlier, thought-provoking reminders in this sparkling gem of a book: Take Five | Meditations with John Henry Newman, written by Mike Aquilina and Fr. Juan R. Vélez and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This particular paragraph, referenced above, which begins with a direct quote from soon-to-be canonized priest, cardinal and poet, John Henry Newman: “Study is good, but it gets us only so far . . .” is actually the 15th in a series of 76 concise, logically organized meditations moving from the elementary to the sublime. Each meditation–one per page–is built upon the great man’s writings and remarkably rich spirituality. Whether taken whole in one reading or in part page-by-page over a course of weeks and months, these wonderfully insightful meditations will open up, even to the busiest reader in the midst of the world, a unique pathway into prayer and contemplation. My advice to spiritual inquirers at all levels, from the novice to the spiritually adept, is to follow the authors’ recommendation to use this book as a guide for daily prayer and meditation. The structure of the book itself is ideal: first, the authors introduce us to Cardinal Newman, the man, where we are given the opportunity to get to know him through a brief sketch of his life and spirituality at the beginning of the book. This is something readers will likely find themselves referring to again and again, prompting many, I suspect, to even wider explorations of this most gifted Christian leader. Then comes the meditations, consisting of a short summary of Newman’s thoughts on subjects taken, as the authors explain, from various salient points for which Newman is justly remembered: The pursuit of objective religious truth; Teaching on the Virtues; Defense of the Catholic Church; A devout spiritual and moral life; and Generosity and loyalty in his friendships, which sets the topic and tone for each meditation to follow. Each meditation consists of an excerpt taken from Newman’s thirty-plus volumes of writings and diaries. Next comes three brief and extremely useful sections entitled: “Think About It,” which establishes a prayerfully resonant tone throughout the book; “Just Imagine,” which provides a vivid, prayerful experience of the Scriptures that tie in, and finally, “Remember,” a pithy summation which the authors suggest may be used as a daily aspiration. Each meditation is given its own page, which makes it ideal for daily reflection for readers on the go. This book is a must have for every serious Catholic who wants to take their faith to the next level, which is to respond appropriately to the universal call to holiness and seek interior union with God.
Prof. Barb H. Wyman

Newman stresses that “The idea of a Christian, as set forth in Scripture, is something very definite.”

Fr. Peter Conley

Aim at ‘seeing the King in His beauty’.  All things that we see are but shadows to us and delusions, unless we enter into what they really mean.

David Warren

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

Robert Kirkendall

The Psalms, the "voice of the Church," invite us to enter into the sufferings of Christ and His people, and cling to God above all.

Fr. Juan Velez

Applying Newman's theory, it seems clear that the notion that women's ordination to to the priesthood, would not maintain the type of the early Church.

Fr. Juan Velez

In 1990, the International Theological Commission, issued a document titled "The Interpretation of Dogma" in which Newman's seven notes are endorsed.

David Warren

The path forward for us personally and for the Church at large, requires returning to the core truths that Christ Himself has revealed to us.

Robert Kirkendall

We are made to be gifts to God and gifts to each other, body and soul; to go against God’s law, which is for our good, is to refuse the gift.

Fr. Juan Velez

What does John Henry Newman mean by the words: "to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often?"