Monday, October 22, 2018

First Things: LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2018: #14
October 22, 2018 / by Xavier Rynne II
The fourteenth in a series of reports on Synod-2018.

A Comment at CWR

source

Concerning 1572: I correct myself: the date is from 1575 to 1577. The fourth Superior General, Fr. Everard Mercurian, “forbade the reading of certain authors as not in keeping with the spirit of the Society: Tauler, Ruysbroeck, Mombaer, Herp, Lull, St. Gertrude, St. Mechtild, and others.” The position of mental prayer in the Society “eventually was formulated as follows: discursive meditation is the type of formal prayer that is proper to the Society of Jesus; affective prayer and contemplative prayer are foreign to the Jesuit spirit.” (“Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition” by Fr. Jordan Aumann, OP, pp. 203-206) This is a shift away from Ignatius’ training of the first Jesuits and his own spirituality. His “Spiritual Diaries” which show how he himself practiced discernment, were only published less than 100 years ago, and since then there has been an effort to recover the original inspiration of the Founder, but a tradition shut in a cupboard for 350 years is not easily resurrected. There was a similar shift away from traditional prayer at the same time in other spiritual traditions, and the effect it has had on the Church in the past 400 years is far more than I can discuss here. However, a tree whose tap-root has been cut can hardly be expected to flourish, and, far from blaming the Jesuits because they do not measure up to what we expect of them, I admire them for what they have accomplished with the emasculated spiritual formation they have been given. I pray that they may recover the true understanding of the spiritual life bequeathed to them by St. Ignatius.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

A Pastoral Revolution: Six Talismanic Words in the Ecclesial Debate on the Family

CWR: The Synod and six enchanting, problematic buzzwords by Fr Nicholas Gregoris

A new book by Italian scholar Guido Vignelli unpacks the semantic and theological significance of terms that have become popular during the pontificate of Francis and the last three Synods.

St. Spyridon

Елизавета Федоровна осталась лишь одна молитва 18 07 2018



Friday, October 19, 2018

The Life of the Holy New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth

Metropolitan Anastassy, Life of the Holy New Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth

Grand Duchess Elizabeth/Елизавета Федоровна Романова

First Things: LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2018: #13
October 19, 2018 / by Xavier Rynne II
CNA: Vigano letter responds to Cardinal Ouellet's charge of rebellion against pope - text of letter

I'd Hate to Agree with the Father General

But there are probably Latin traditionalists who agree with him as well. But: what is Father Arturo's agenda? And does this [fake] exercise of synodality count as a change in the exercise of the papacy, if the results are the same?

What Did Jesuit Superior Mean When He Said Pope Is Not the ‘Chief’ of the Church? by Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Father Arturo Sosa Abascal said Francis consciously calls himself the Bishop of Rome, instead of using grander titles.

Fr. Maxym Lysack on the Jesus Prayer





Thursday, October 18, 2018

Window Dressing

Syriac Catholic Patriarch Younan Discusses Synod’s Priorities by Deborah Castellano Lubov
Patriarch Younan notes the best ways of reaching young people — including those in his beleaguered homeland.
First Things: LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2018: #12
October 18, 2018 / by Xavier Rynne II
The twelfth in a series of reports on Synod-2018.
Sandro Magister: In the East There Is Rupture between Kirill and Bartholomew. And the Pope Sides More with the Former


Related:
Ukraine prelate says Orthodox independence is ‘affirmation of rights’

From the Jesus Prayer to the Prayer of Jesus, by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen)

From 2016

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

First Things: LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2018: #11
October 17, 2018 / by Xavier Rynne II
The eleventh in a series of reports on Synod-2018.

"The Simplicity and Subtlety of St. Thomas's Fifth Way"

Tuesday, October 16, 2018