CATHERINE OF SIENA, DOMINICAN TERTIARY

The above icon is from Monastery icons. Catherine is extraordinary. She was illiterate and yet was an advisor to Popes and now a Doctor of the Church. In her we find a deep devotion to and knowledge of Christ and the Trinity. She was woman who deeply loved the Church and suffered for its unity. We need another Catherine!

Now, then, do we wish to have that glorious hunger which these holy and true shepherds of the past have felt, and to quench in ourselves that fire of self-love? Let us do as they, who with fire quenched fire; for so great was the fire of inestimable and ardent charity that burned in their hearts and souls, that they were an-hungered and famished for the savour of souls. Oh, sweet and glorious fire, which is of such power that it quenches fire, and every inordinate delight and pleasure and all love of self; and this love is like a drop of water, which is swiftly consumed in the furnace! Should one ask me how men attained that sweet fire and hunger--inasmuch as we are surely in ourselves unfruitful trees--I say that those men grafted themselves into the fruitful tree of the most holy and sweet Cross, where they found the Lamb, slain with such fire of love for our salvation as seems insatiable. Still He cries that He is athirst, as if saying: "I have greater ardour and desire and thirst for your salvation than I show you with My finished Passion." O sweet and good Jesus! Let pontiffs shame them, and shepherds, and every other creature, for our ignorance and pride and self-indulgence, in the presence of so great largess and goodness and ineffable love on the part of our Creator! He has revealed Himself to us in our humanity, a Tree full of sweet and mellow fruits, in order that we, wild trees, might graft ourselves in Him. Now in this wise wrought that enamoured Gregory, and those other good shepherds: knowing that they had no virtue in themselves, and gazing upon the Word, our Tree, they grafted themselves in Him, bound and chained by the bands of love. For in that which the eye sees does it delight, when the thing is fair and good. They saw, then, and seeing they so bound them that they saw not themselves, but saw and tasted everything in God. And there was neither wind nor hail nor demons nor creatures that could keep them from bearing cultivated fruits: since they were grafted in the substance of our Tree, Jesus. They brought forth their fruits, then, from the substance of sweet charity, in which they were united. And there is no other way.

From a letter to Pope Gregory XI.

THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE

Fourth Mystery
THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE
Our Father...
1. When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord" ), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." Hail Mary...

2. Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Hail Mary...

3. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. Hail Mary...

4. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. Hail Mary...

5. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." Hail Mary...

6. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Hail Mary...

7. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too." Hail Mary...

8. There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. Hail Mary...

9. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Hail Mary...

10. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father…

The Mother of God and St. Joseph come to the Temple to present God to God, the Son to the Father but as if he were a sinner like all others. In His humility the Word is carried as the man-child, full of wisdom beyond His years, to have His life redeemed with two doves. He is priced this cheaply as a baby because He is a poor man and as a poor man He will be sold cheaply for thirty pieces of silver. At least here is not unrecognised; inspired by the Spirit Simeon recognizes the Lord, the True High Priest, as He enters His Temple carried in the arms of His Mother, who made a Temple for Him in her body, He who is to establish the Temple of His Church by uniting man to the Temple of His Body. A long life of service is crowned with the King's arrival, the Priest approaching at last the altar of sacrifice. Here is prophesied that this saving sacrifice is not just for the Jews but for the Gentiles together they are to form a new Israel.
This is not without pain. For His Mother her heart will be pierced. What does this mean? Tradition says it refers to the sorrow that will come to her from the suffering of Her Son and God. Her heart will be pierced with Her Son's side. She is the midwife of the Church, an icon of the Church and its first and noblest member. In the earthly Jewish temple she presents God to God as she will present Him to the Father at the foot of the Cross. Joseph, ever-faithful, stands by her, a model of silent contemplation and obedience. In the fresco above Anna appears in a window/tower proclaiming from on high the wondrous actions of God.
Let us accompany the Mother of God as St. Joseph did and in the temple, as at the foot of the Cross, offer ourselves in union with Him so that He will 'buy us back' and give us eternal life.

THE NATIVITY of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

The Third Joyful Mystery
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
Our Father…

1. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. Hail Mary...

2. Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths. Hail Mary...

3. She placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Hail Mary...

4. There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Hail Mary...

5. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Hail Mary...

6. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Hail Mary...

7. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests." Hail Mary...

8. Magi from the east came to Jerusalem. The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. Hail Mary...

9. They saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. Hail Mary...

10. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Hail Mary... Glory be to the Father…

The icon of the Nativity of Our Lord is from the wall of an Orthodox Cathedral in Texas (I think). In the centre we have the Mother of God lying on her bed and with her arms embracing the swaddled Christ-child. Above them the Uncreated Light of the invisible God shines down. His manger is like the tomb he will rise from on Easter Sunday morning. This is emphasized by the blackness of the cave behind. Creation, symbolized by the ox and donkey, looks on with eager longing for the liberation that is to come. At the upper left the angels look on in amazement and praise God while on the right on bears the good news to the shepherds. It is the outcasts and despised who are the first to hear of God's saving intervention and worship Him incarnate. On the left the Magi, the wise men, foreigners who are also excluded from Israel's worship bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Jew and gentile gather at the foot of Christ. On the bottom left Joseph is spoken to by an old man usually taken to be the devil who tempts him to doubt the Mother of God and, by extension, God Himself. But Joseph is a righteous man and overcomes. On the bottom right the women bath the newborn Christ, an affirmation of His humanity and an anticipation of both His baptism in the Jordan and His descent into the tomb so that our baptismal washing will bring salvation and union with the True Man, Christ.
At Greccio, not long before he died St. Francis had the Nativity scene reconstructed. He himself served the Mass as deacon. The Christ child Himself was seen to appear. From long contemplation of this mystery Francis gained a deep love for the humility of Christ. he could have chosen to be born in a better place, at a better time, in better conditions. 'Better' would be by our standards. It was in God's own time when He judged it appropriate that the Almighty Word and Image of the Father took flesh in the womb of the Virgin and was born. There were no crowds to hail Him, no bands, no welcoming parties. He chose obscurity and accepted the homage not of His own people who 'received Him not' but that of strangers and outcasts. He is born in the midst of sinners as He will be buried among them. The again we are all sinners; we have all fallen short of the glory of God. He embraces the matter of His creation to lift it not just out of the fall but into the very heart of the Trinity. His path is through littleness, rejection, suffering and death but does not end there. He will conquer and we will live forever. It is He who brings the true gift.

VISITATION OF OUR LADY TO ELIZABETH

I know this not the feast of the Visitation but for a number of years I have toyed with the idea of promoting the rosary using icons and scripture, with a commentary/meditation, in combination. Now I think that the best way to actually do this is to blog it and perhaps then seek to put it in book form.

The Second Joyful Mystery
THE VISITATION
Our Father…
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. Hail Mary

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary

In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Hail Mary

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" Hail Mary

And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. Hail Mary

From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--Hail Mary

holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. Hail Mary

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. Hail Mary

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. Hail Mary

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." Hail Mary

Glory be to the Father…


(Text of Luke's Gospel is from New International Version

What strikes me first is that Mary, the Theotokos, the Birth-Giver of God, goes to Elizabeth when she hears of her pregnancy. The Incarnation of the Word's first fruits are compassion, generosity and charity. John leaps at Mary's greeting. His leap of the Anawim - of those poor in spirit who hope in God - is a response to Mary's greeting. Her greeting therefore is already a proclamation of the Gospel, of the Good News of the Incarnation. It is her greeting that brings down the Holy Spirit on John. As St. Francis called her, she is 'Virgin made Church'. The moment of the greeting is portrayed in the icon. The Mother of the New Covenant greets the mother of the Old Covenant's last prophet. He who concludes the one and announces the other leaps with joy at the coming of the new and the mothers are filled. In an age where the unborn are denied personhood and the right to life this mystery speaks to us of the sacredness of human life and its Divine origin. God has made each of us for a purpose. He sent His Son to reveal His love and mercy and John leapt at His coming. May we too leap!

ST. FIDELIS OF SIGMARINGEN

Fidelis was born in Sigmaringen, Germany, in 1578 and martyred in Seewis, Grison, Switzerland, in 1622. The tribute to him by Pope Benedict XIV says it all.

The abundance of his charity led him to care for the bodily needs of his neighbours: he gathered all who suffered into his fatherly embrace, and supported a great number of poor people by collecting alms for them from many sources.
He relieved the loneliness of widows and orphans by arranging help for them from powerful men and princes; he assisted prisoners by all the means, physical and spiritual, that were in his power; he was tireless in visiting the sick in order to comfort them, to reconcile them to God, and to prepare them for their last agony.
He was never more fruitful in works of mercy than when the Austrian army, stationed in the Alps was struck by an epidemic and presented a miserable spectacle of pain and death.
Not only was he filled with such great charity. Being a man faithful in name and in deed, he was a notable defender of the Catholic faith, which he tirelessly preached. A few days before he sealed his faith with his blood, in his last speech, as though in a will, he spoke of the Catholic faith in these words:
“O Catholic faith, how stable, how firm you are, how well-rooted, how well-founded on a strong rock. Heaven and earth will pass away, but you can never perish. From the beginning the whole world has spoken against you, but you have triumphed mightily over all.
For this is the victory which overcomes the world, our faith; this is what has brought the most powerful kings under Christ’s rule and made peoples the servants of Christ.
What was it that made the holy apostles and martyrs undergo fierce struggles and terrible agonies, if not faith and above all faith in the resurrection?
What was it that has made hermits spurn pleasure, honour and wealth, and live a celibate life in solitude, if not living faith?
What is it that in these days causes true Christians to turn aside from what is easy and pleasant and undergo hardship and labour?
Living faith working through love – this is what leads men to put aside the goods of the present in the hope of those of the future, and to look to the future rather than to the present.”

Elogium of St. Fidelis, by Pope Benedict XIV

RATZINGER'S FAITH

I am reading this fine book by Tracey Rowland at the moment (I am a magpie when it comes to books - I jump from book to book following whatever catches my eye). There's a good review of it by Fr. Schall SJ here. It prompts me to comment that the Holy Father is so much more learned and insightful, nuanced and balanced than some of his followers (and I am one). It's a delight to encounter a thinker who so often elicits a 'yes' from one's soul (this goes for Ms. Rowland and the Holy Father). He reminds me at times of the Gregory of Nazianzen so beautifully described in Fr. McGuckin's Saint Gregory of Nazianzus an Intellectual Biography, a man of supreme intellect, a peacemaker but surrounded by those who did not always understand how deep his theology was. Thanks be to God we have such a Pope, a worthy successor to John Paul the Great.

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

I never recorded where I got the above icon of Christ the Divine Mercy. It looks like the work of English Iconographer Aidan Hart. Apologies if offence is given in using work without permission but it's one of the better icons out there. On this Sunday that ends the octave, the eight days that anticipate the fullness and completion of time when our eternity with God will begin, it is fitting that we remember that God is merciful. Merciful not in the sense that He ignores our sins nor in that He creates a legal fiction of innocence for us but merciful in that He loves us so much that He sends the Son to reveal that Mercy to us, to make it real, concrete and effective for us so that it transforms us into Him. In the Son the Father's ever-faithfulness is revealed and made present and He reaches into the depths of our misery, He embraces it, transfigures, transubstantiates it, so that we who are mere passing dust become immortal diamond and are lifted up onto the Father's throne with and in the Son. Divine Mercy isn't just absolution, it's Divinization.

ABBOT DENIES JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS

According to reports in the Irish Catholic Dom Mark Patrick Hederman (I've to calling him Dom Mark Patrick 'Head-the-ball'), newly ordained and installed as Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Glenstal, Co. Limerick, has denied, at least implicitly, that Christ died for our sins. The good Abbot seems not to have read 1 Cor. 15:3 nor 1 Peter 3:18. Very explicitly, both Paul and Peter tell us that Christ died for our sins! Now the Abbot is right in his assertion that the Son died to bring us into communion with the Trinity but liberating us from our fallen nature and wiping away our sins was part of the deal. 'Gaybo' (Gay Byrne, ageing Irish TV presenter and celebrity) who chaired the show allegedly denied he had any sins for Jesus to die for. Such is the state of liberal Catholics today - they don't even know the faith they are denying.

EU Threat to Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience

In the midst of the joy of Easter comes this news from LifeSiteNews. Hilary White writes:

BRUSSELS, April 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Changes made this month in the EU Anti-Discrimination Directive could force Christian and other religious groups to perform homosexual "marriages" and allow non-believers to receive Communion and other sacraments in their churches.

The directive was adopted by the EU Parliament on April 2nd, by 360 votes in favor and 227 votes against and will apply to all organizations offering a service to the public, including hospitals, charities, businesses and prisons, and churches. With the removal of exemptions for "organizations based on religion and belief," Christian groups, including the Church of England and the Catholic Education Service, have expressed concerns that conscience protections traditionally allowed under UK law will be abolished.

MEPs also altered the directive to ensure that "differences in treatment in access to educational institutions based on religion or belief" will not "represent an infringement of the right to education and does not justify discrimination on any other grounds."

The directive bans discrimination in the offering of goods and services and specifies "sexual orientation" as one of the grounds of outlawed discrimination. Similar legislation passed in Britain under the Tony Blair Labour government result in the closure of several Catholic adoption agencies after the government refused to allow a religious exemption.

In July 2008, the European Commission announced, "The law will prohibit direct and indirect discrimination as well as harassment and victimisation."

Critics have warned, however, that it could result in religious groups facing lawsuits for refusing to perform "marriage" ceremonies for same-sex partners. Christians have also argued that the law could prohibit them from refusing to give Communion or membership to non-Christians. It could also abolish policies in religious schools to give priority in admission to members of their own faith.

A spokesman for the Christian Institute, said, "UK discrimination law is already pretty extreme, as the forced closure of Roman Catholic adoption agencies shows. The Directive would make things even worse by transferring ultimate control of equality law to Brussels, beyond the control of our own Parliament."

Oona Stannard, chief executive of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, said that, "It feels as though the European Parliament is antagonistic to faith and fails to see the human rights dimension of faith."

Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for South East England, also criticized the directive, saying, "As it stands, this legislation would not only threaten the status of faith schools, hospitals, adoption agencies and the like; it could also force political parties to hire ideological opponents or criminalise single sex institutions."

The Daily Telegraph editorialized on Saturday, "What is being attempted, under the guise of eliminating discrimination, is discrimination against Christians." Under the new concept of European "anti-discrimination" theories, which are contrary to British legal traditions, "legislation has closed Catholic adoption agencies, while a politically correct reign of terror is afflicting our workplaces." Christians face an "increasingly hostile environment" in Britain, said the paper.

Thanks to At Home in My Father's House for this.
We may soon pay with our freedom and our lives for our commitment to Christ as the icon of the Chinese Martyrs of the boxer Rebellion reminds. Martyrdom can come at any time or era. We must prepare by daily dying to ourselves. Our forebears did so and so can we. They too stood up to evil and injustice; But one does not do so lying down. 'For evil to thrive...'

I Hate 'Happy Easter'!

I've told my congregation so for the past two Easters. In Greece the traditional greeting is 'Christos Anesti!'. Why can't we greet one another with 'Christ is Risen!' and 'Indeed, He is Truly Risen!' 'Happy Easter' seems to me to be just a banal phrase, quasi-religious, but so inoffensive that no one could object to it nor be challenged by it. Could that be why we use it? Have the materialists, atheists, agnostics and those who want to water down our faith won the day and beaten us down so that all we can proclaim is 'Happy Easter'. Time, then, to fight back, rediscover what Christ has done for us and proclaim it from the housetops: 'Christ is Risen!'
But what does 'Christ is Risen' mean? Resurrection is more than resuscitation. Lazarus was to die again; Christ cannot die. Where He had before hidden His Divinity (except at the Transfiguration) He now reveals it gently, stage by stage. He leads the shocked and frightened disciples towards acceptance of the greatest miracle of all: the resurrection not only of Christ but of all the saved. The Resurrection is the Father's response to the self-emptying of the Son. Through the Incarnation the Word and Image of the Father emptied Himself out in humble and obedient love and worship of the Father and thus revealed the Father to us. On Good Friday this self-emptying reached its climax as the Way, the Truth and the Life embraced the suffering of the cross, more the suffering of Love unreturned, rejected and despised. It is in death, the tomb and the descent to the land of the dead that the Word reaches the ultimate state of abasement. The Father's response is to lift the Son from death and us with Him, up out of death and separation from God and from one another into communion with God and a place in Christ on the Father's throne. The Mass then is our chance to participate in the whole work of Christ as by grace, the power of the Holy Spirit we are present as these mysteries unfold. Reason only gets us so far, only faith-filled love can take us all the way.
The icon is a fresco by Emmanuel Panselinos (c.1290) from the Protaton Church, Karyes, Mount Athos

Holy Saturday Thoughts from Yesterday and for Tomorrow

Yesterday I told the congregation that, according to some of the saints, Christ's greatest suffering was not the beatings, the stripping, flogging, crowning with thorns or the crucifixion, dreadful as they were. His greatest suffering, the cup He asked the Father to let pass Him by, was that despite the 'excess' of His love for man in His love for the Father, despite all that He did to reveal His Father's love and mercy still that love would be spurned and some would choose to walk away. Each time we sin; each time we are bitter, resentful, greedy, lustful, lie, cheat or hate, take what is not ours or fail to love we turn and walk away from Him. I pointed to the altar then and the empty tabernacle and spoke of how these symbolise a world without God, without Christ. What if that were always the case? I asked. What if all our tabernacles were empty, our altars bare? I told them what our archbishop had said 'One in ten priests in the diocese are under seventy years old'. 1 in 10. One doesn't need even Junior Cert maths to see what that means. How come other generations could provide so many vocations and this one provide so few? I have made my choice and I pointed to my brother friars and our postulants and the choices they have made. They the people have made choices too. (As one friar recently pointed out we have contracepted ourselves into a vocations crisis). We need to get down on our knees and beg God to save us. We need to turn back and respond with loving acts to the One who loves us so much.
Tonight I sing the Exultet so I haven't given as much thought to my sermon for tomorrow as I should. I hope to point out, as I did last year, how lame our 'Happy Easter' is compared to the Greek 'Christos Anesti!' 'Christ is Risen!' should be our greeting. We have let the materialists, atheists and agnostics, the liberals and the faint-hearted tells us how to live the faith in public for too long. In Irish the traditional daily greeting was 'God be with you' to which the reply was 'God and Mary with you'. You may reply but those were different times. Yes they were different times with different people; they had courage and faith to proclaim what they knew to be true. The three disciples in the Gospel could be a model for facing up to the challenge. We could stand with Mary Magdalen, outside the tomb, outside the mystery, weeping. We could be like Peter, having entered the tomb but not grasping the mystery, not believing. Or we could be like John entering into both the tomb and the mystery, seeing, contemplating, and believing even though we do not yet understand the full wonder of what Christ has done for us. If we really grasp with John what Christ has done we will not be able to keep it quiet; we will want to proclaim it from the rooftops. In rising from the dead He lifts us out of death for we are one person with Him. Heaven is wide open for us and the Uncreated Light is poured out on creation. We are created anew in Christ and called to sit with Him upon the Throne of Heaven, the Throne of God. That is why the Church's liturgy is a song and should be sung. That is why should never stop singing, 'Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!'

A little pic for Holy Saturday

I don't think I've ever seen the Archbishop of Dublin +Diarmuid Martin wearing a biretta before! This was taken by Brenda Fitzgibbon for the Irish Times and was printed in today's edition. The Archbishop was leading the annual Stations of the Cross in the Phoenix Park yesterday.
By the way, pray for me; I'm singing the Exultet tonight.

Holy Thursday: Support your Clergy, Support the Pope.

Greetings on this Holy Thursday - a traditional feastday for us Capuchins as for all Christians. At Home in my Father's House has a link to John Smeaton's appeal for a declaration of support for the Holy Father. A good deed to do on this holy day and what better than to declare our love and support for the successor of Peter? Today we celebrate both the Institution of the Mass and of Holy Orders in its three degrees of Deacon, Priest and Bishop. We begin the celebration of the ultimate revelation of the Father's love and mercy in the Son's self-emptying on the Cross for us and in His Resurrection. How can Life and Love itself die? How can God love so much that He would embrace even death itself for us? Truly God is all Giver, Gift and Giving and there is nothing lacking in His generosity.

Chant for Wednesday of Holy Week from the Eastern Church

Byzantine Ramblings has this beautiful piece from the Eastern Church's Orthros for Wednesday of Holy Week. When will our chant tradition be restored?

Anniversary of the death of his Holiness Pope John Paul II

Gloria.tv have a video of the favourite song of the late Pope John Paul II (the Great). Today is the fourth anniversary of his death. Eternal memory Holy Father! A Father you were to us, pray for us that we will remain faithful.

Whatever the Doms do we can do better or just as well.

The English Dominicans have photos and an article about their Bro. Ursus. Well we Irish Capuchin Franciscans here in Raheny have Bro. Frederick Francis (his friends call him Freddy or Frank depending on the mood). He does not aspire to ordination as he is not valid matter (not a human male) and will go, in humble obedience, wherever he is sent. Bro. Freddy lives a contemplative life as a hermit (i.e. he never leaves his room), eats little and spends much of his day in silent contemplation of God's goodness and human foibles. He is mortified that I am publicizing him in this way as he prefers the littleness of anonymity.