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Death of Fr. Stephen McCabe, Redemptorist.
Fr. Stephen loved music, as did all his family. He played the button accordion with great skill.
The Month’s Mind Mass for Fr. Stephen McCabe, Redemptorist, was celebrated on Sunday Nov. 30th at 3pm in Marianella Chapel, Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin. The chapel was packed with people who knew and loved Stephen and/or members of his family, and the Redemptorists.
Below is what was published on this site one month ago or so:
Your prayers are requested for the happy repose of the soul of Fr. Stephen McCabe (aged 63) who died at 6.40am this morning (Monday 27th October 2014) after a long struggle with cancer, in Fortaleza, Brazil. Fr. Albert McGettrick was with him when he died.
Fr. Stephen grew up beside Orwell Road in Rathgar in Dublin, very near Marianella, the Redemptorist Community on Orwell Road. We offer our deepest sympathies to Fr. Stephen’s sisters and brothers. May he rest in peace.
Stephen’s remains will be brought to São Raimundo church (in Fortaleza, Brazil) at noon today (Monday). Funeral Mass to-morrow Tuesday at 9.00am and burial afterwards in the cemetery PARQUE DA PAZ – all times local to Fortaleza.
At a date to be arranged with Fr. Stephen’s family there will be a Mass in Marianella.
For now let us remember Stephen in our prayers.
The Catholic Church in Nazária in Piaui, were Fr. Stephen worked for several years in recent times.
Fr. Stephen McCabe was born in 1951, professed a Redemptorist in 1970 and ordained a priest on June 3rd, 1978. He was diagnosed with cerebral cancer a few years back, and died in Fortaleza in Brazil today, October 27th, at the age of 63.
Fr. Stephen was greatly loved among all of us Redemptorists, both in the Dublin Province, and in the Vice-Province of Fortaleza. He was a man of immense kindness, gentleness, joy, wisdom, prayer,- and a great musician who entertained us on different occasions. May his dear soul rest in the embrace of God whom he served with such devotion and dedication and joy as a Redemptorist priest. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis!
The following was sent to us today, written by one of his confreres in Brazil, Fr. Brendan McDonald.
Rev. Stephen Paul Mc Cabe C.Ss.R.
On the 27th. of October 2014, at the Curé d’Ars Hospital in Fortaleza, Brazil, Father Stephen Mc Cabe went to his eternal reward after a long period of illness bravely and camly borne.
Father Stephen was born in Dublin, Ireland, on the 14th. of August 1951. He was the eldest son of Michael Mc Cabe and Kathleen Kiernan. He had two brothers and three sisters who came to visit him in Brazil shortly before his death. He was baptized at Saint Andrew’s Church in Dublin. His primary education was done with the De La Salle Brothers and his secondary education with the Christian Brothers both schools being in Dublin.
In 1969 the Christian Brothers organized a retreat for their students. The retreat was preached by the Redemptorists. At the closing of the retreat Father Denis Farrell C.Ss.R. invited Stephen to become a Redemptorist. Despite some inicial misgivings on his mother’s part, as she considered the Redemptorists a very rigorous and austere religious congregation, Stephen began his postulancy followed by his noviciate in 1969. He was professed on the 1st. of September 1970.
He read philosophy at University College, Galway from 1970 to 1973. This was followed by his theology course at the Spiritain Missionary Institute [Kimmage]. Stephen spent two years on a period of probation in Brazil from 1975 to 1977. This time was mainly to study Portuguese, and to adapt to the climate and customs in Brazil. He spent most of this time in CENFI (Center for Intercultural Formation) in Brasília.
In 1977/1978 Stephen returned to the Spiritan Missionary Institute in Dublin to complete his theological formation. On the 5th. of Feburary 1978 he made his final profession and on the 3rd of June that same year he was ordained a priest.
Returning to Brazil in 1979 Stephen was sent to Teresina the capital of the State of Piauí where he spent many years including some as Parish Priest. He also worked in a poor district called Serviluz as well as in a very poor district called São Miguel, Messejana both in the city of Fortaleza. He also spent some time in formation with our postulants in Bela Vista, Fortaleza. Father Stephen spent his last years working in Paraiso do Tocantins, and in Nazária in Piauí. He was working in the Interprovincial Noviciate in Campina Grande when he was diagnosed with cerebral cancer. He suffered this illness with great patience and admirable courage.
Father Stephen was a man of profound faith and an intense spiritual life among which traits were noted: his spirit of prayer, his fervent priestly ministry, his beautiful witness of a simple and austere life, his total understanding of the evangelical message, his great dedication to his religious confreres, his sincere welcome and respect for the poor, his constant smile and jovial manner, his serenity, peacefullness and freindly manner of being as well as his dedication to study and work.
Father Stephen liked to visit the communities on the perifery of the city, as well as the abandoned communities in the interior of the state. He was a great musician and many Redemptorist feasts and liturgies were animated by his accordian or organ playing.
A poet once said: “Nobody dies while he lives on in someones heart”. I know for certain that Stephen is very much alive in the hearts of his Redemptorist confreres, the members of his family and the countless friends he made during his priestly ministry.
Stephen, may the heavenly choir receive you and bring you to the Holy City, the Heavenly Jerusalem, where you will have your well earned eternal rest and the crown our holy founder Saint Alphonsus promised to us Redemptorists who were faithful and persevered in their vocation. Fr. Brendan Coleman Mc Donald C.Ss.R.
Padre Estêvão McCabe, C.Ss.R.
Notícia: [NOTA DE FALECIMENTO] Pe. Estêvão Mc Cabe C.Ss.R.
Faleceu por volta das 3.38 horas no dia 27 de outubro de 2014 no Hospital Cura d’Ars, em Fortaleza no Ceará, depois de uma longa doença corajosamente enfrentada, o Padre Estêvão (Stephen Paul) Mc Cabe. O falecido nasceu em Dublin, Irlanda no dia 14 de agosto de 1951. Foi o primeiro filho de Michael Mc Cabe e Kathleen Kiernan. Teve dois irmãos e três irmãs. Foi batizado na Igreja de Santo André em Dublin. Sua educação primária foi feita com os Irmãos De La Salle, e cursou o colegial com os Irmãos Cristãos, ambas as escolas sendo em Dublin. Em 1969 houve um retiro espiritual na escola dos Irmãos Cristãos pregado pelos Padres Redentoristas. No final do retiro Pe. Denis Farrell C.Ss.R. convidou o jovem Estêvão para ser redentorista. Apesar do receio de sua mãe que considerou a Congregação Redentorista muito rigorosa e austera, Estêvão começou o postulando seguido pelo noviciado em 1969. Fez seus primeiros votos no dia primeiro de setembro de 1970.
Cursou filosofia na Universidade de Galway de 1970 até 1973, e de 1973 até 1975 seu curso de teologia no Instituto Missionário dos Padres Spiritanos. De 1975 até 1977 fez estágio de dois anos aqui no Brasil. O estágio foi principalmente para aprender a língua portuguesa e adaptar-se ao clima e aos costumes brasileiros. Com esse estudou no CENFI Centro de Formação Intercultural) em Brasília. Durante os anos 1977 e 1978 terminou seu curso de teologia no Instituto Missionário dos Padres Spiritanos em Dublin. No dia 5 de fevereiro fez sua profissão religiosa permanente e no dia 3 de junho de 1978 foi ordenado presbítero.
Voltando ao Brasil em 1979 foi nomeado para Teresina, Piauí, onde ficou por muitos anos. Trabalhou também aqui em Fortaleza em Serviluz, na área da Praia do Futuro e na favela de São Miguel em Messejana. Passou alguns anos na formação dos postulantes no bairro de Bela Vista. Seus últimos anos de vida encontrou Pe. Estêvão trabalhando em Paraiso do Tocantins, em Nazária no Piauí, e depois no noviciado Interprovincial em Campina Grande. Nesta última cidade foi diagnosticado com câncer cerebral e lutou contra essa doença até sua morte com grande paciência e admirável coragem.
Pe. Estevão foi um homem de profunda fé e intensa vida espiritual na qual se destacam um espírito de oração, fervoroso ministério sacerdotal, boníssima testemunha de vida simples e austera, brilhante inteligência com total dominação da mensagem evangélica, total dedicação aos seus confrades, acolhimento alegre e sincero com sensibilidade e respeito aos pobres e menos favorecidos, sempre sorridente e jovial, era de fácil convivência, pessoa serena, simpática, dedicado ao estudo e trabalho.
Pe. Estêvão gostava de visitar as comunidades na parte periférica de Teresina e as comunidades mais abandonadas no interior. Dotado com inteligência musical, Estêvão como sanfonista alegrou muitas festas redentoristas e festas do povo além de celebrações litúrgicas. O poeta disse: “Ninguém, morre enquanto permanece vivo no coração de alguém”. Tenho certeza absoluta que Estêvão está muito vivo nos corações de seus confrades, de seus familiares e nos corações dos incontáveis fieis que o ama.
Querido Estêvão que o coro festivo te acolha e te conduza à Cidade Santa, à Jerusalém Celestial, para que tenhas um descanso eterno.
Por Pe. Brendan Coleman Mc Donald C.Ss.R.
All Saints, and Holy Souls: November 1, 2: Also, Samhain Celebration.
Saturday next, November 1st, is Feast of All Saints, and a Holy Day of obligation. Masses in Esker on this coming Saturday will be at 8am and 11am, as with Sundays.
There will be an outdoor Celebration of Samhain on Saturday afternoon at 5pm. Come along, -dressed for the weather. All are welcome.
Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Souls.
The annual CANDLELIGHT MASS FOR THE HOLY SOULS in Esker will be held on Wednesday November 5th, 2014, at 8pm in Esker Church. All welcome.
The Annual Healing Mission in Esker: December 8th to 12th, 2014.
The Annual Healing Mission in Esker takes place from December 8th to 12th, 2014. There will be 4 sessions each day, 10am, 5pm, 7pm, 9pm.
‘MORNING STAR, COME AND ENLIGHTEN US.’
THE ANNUAL HEALING MISSION IN ESKER DRAWS US INTO THE SPIRIT OF ADVENT, THAT TIME OF WAITING TO CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF JESUS. THE FALLING OF THE LIGHT GIVES US PAUSE AND PREPARES US FOR THE COMING OF THE LIGHT THAT SHINES FROM THE CAVE IN BETHLEHEM.
Please spread the word to family and neighbours. Thanks.
Publication of Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Redemptorists, Ireland.
Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Redemptorist Congregation in Ireland- from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC).
Statement by The Redemptorists in Ireland (The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Dublin Province), in response to publication of Review of Safeguarding Practice:
Today, Thursday 23rd October 2014, we publish the Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Redemptorist Congregation in Ireland (it is available at www.redemptorists.ie).
To read the Statement and the Text of the Review, click here or go to http://www.redemptorists.ie/publication-of-review-of-safeguarding-practice/
New Youth Ministry Coordinator in Esker.
New Youth Ministry Coordinator:
Lizzie Harrison has recently been appointed as Youth Ministry Coordinator in Esker Redemptorist Retreat Centre in Athenry Co. Galway. She has worked in the area of youth ministry and faith development since graduating from Mater Dei in 1996. Since then she has taught Religion, worked in youth ministry in the Diocese of Clonfert, and has run her own retreat team, the Life Retreat Team, for two years. In 2006 she completed the MA in Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care from Mater Dei and for the past eight years she has been a chaplain spending six years as Chaplain in Loreto College, Crumlin. She is passionate about the possibilities that Esker presents to enrich the life and faith of young people through retreats and various other youth ministry programmes, so that they too may access the joy of the Gospel.
She can be contacted at lizzie@redemptoristsesker.ie
Welcome, Lizzie, to Esker! May the Holy Spirit fill you and guide you!
1 + 1 > 2 Project… an exciting initiative and call.
1+1>2 Project
Bishop John Keenan (Diocese of Paisley, Scotland) recently launched a discernment initiative for young Catholics.
1+1>2 project will encourage young people to engage with their faith and fully realise God’s calling to their vocation in life. The 1+1>2 discernment initiative will encourage Scotland’s youth to spend one hour a week at Mass and one hour practicing some form of community prayer, ministry or service commitment.
Fr Frank Hannigan, Vocations Director for the Diocese of Paisley, said the aim of the initiative is to help young people consider what God is calling them to do with their lives, talents and future, and said the event is designed for young people of all ages—from secondary school pupils to university students.
“Even if you are in second or third year at school you can do things in the life of your parish,” he said. “We believe if young people attend Mass each week and they commit to some form of community prayer or ministry they will provide something greater for themselves and the Church and they will gain something spiritually. If I got 30 young people that I never seen before I would be delighted and if I got a hundred I would be amazed!”
Comment: What a difference this project could make if taken on by young people of all ages,- they would transform their parish in a year, with their prayer and their service!
S. Devitt C.Ss.R.
School Retreats have begun again!
We’re up and running again with our school retreat team. We have a new leader who is the full-time co-ordinator and developer of Youth Ministry in and from Esker,- Mrs. Lizzie Harrison, who prior to coming here in August 2014 had worked for eight years as Chaplain in Loreto Crumlin, and earlier had a retreat team, and before that worked in the diocese of Clonfert for a while. We wish Lizzie the very best, and every blessing on her work in Esker.
Last week we had students from St. Mary’s Rathmines (6th years), and from Clongowes Wood (3rd years), first time for both schools. We finished the week with a group from Crescent Comprehensive in Limerick, 6th year students. Thanks to all of them for coming, and for their schools and teachers for sending them! We had a great time together, for their retreats. God bless them in the year ahead.
Since then, this week, we had a group of Leaving Cert Students from Blackrock College in Dublin, from Sunday evening until Tuesday midday. Again, a great group of young adults, who have blessed us by their presence here. Thanks, lads!
Please keep our ministry in your prayers. It is a joy for us to work with the young people when they come.
Feast of the Holy Cross,Sept. 14th.
The Cross was not some Hiccup
His passion and his dying
were not some hiccup
on the way to glory:
His hour of
Glory
is
upon the Cross.
One wheat-grain dies
and from that falling down,
-that earthing of divine,-
the fields are white with harvest
of new birth.
When He is lifted up,
the Prince of Glory on a wooden cross
draws all to him
who want to see the Man,
the Son, the Sent;
Rivers of people come
and Rivers
flow.
————————–
“They will look upon the One whom they have pierced”.
(Reflection on John 12:21,23,32and Revelations 22,vv 1,2)
Click here for more reflections on the Cross of Christ, written by Fr. Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R., in a collection www.emptifulvessels.com.
Outrageous Grace
What Crazy God would do
such crazy thing
as, knowing what would come, still
sent a Son
to those who in their time
and times
would cast him out,
make fun of him,
spit in his face,
neglect him and
at last, and always,
hang him from a beam
until the very last of him
was gone -
to God ?
How crazy has God been?
Just so he did,
still does,
and still he lives who died
with such great love.
Who now is ‘crazy’ in this Great Affair?
At Swanwick with Maranatha Community:
(On hearing ‘Outrageous Grace’ on CD by Godfrey Birtill, and remembering a saying by Alphonsus Liguori about our ‘crazy God’- our God who is ‘crazy’ with love for us, or ‘crazy’ about us!- ‘pazzo per amore’)
‘Nowhere to lay their heads: Christians in Iraq face uncertain future’
Christians taking refuge in a church, in Iraq.
‘Nowhere to lay their heads: Christians of Iraq face uncertain future”- click here for article.
Petition for Persecuted Christians in Iraq is presented at United Nations: over 300,000 signatures: click here.
——–
Erbil, Iraq – On the eve of an ultimatum issued by Islamists to Christians in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the Chaldean bishop of Erbil, in nearby Kurdistan, urged prayers for the nation’s remaining followers of Christ. “We have hope that things will get better,” Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of the Chaldean Archeparchy of Erbil said.
——
The following was received indirectly by email from the Provincial leaders of the Mercy Sisters in Ireland and in Australia/Papua NewGuinea. It is a plea for urgent and continuous prayer for the Christians in Iraq who are facing death for being Christians. Please pray about it on receiving it, and forward it in any way you can.
URGENT PRAYERS NEEDED
From Brother Gerard Alvarez cfc. (Christian Brothers)
Dear Friends,
I received the following text message on my phone from Sean Malone who leads Crisis Relief International (CRI). We then spoke briefly on the phone and I assured him that we would share this urgent prayer need with all of our contacts.
“We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food too. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it’s staff in Erbil.. Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!”
Please pray sincerely for the deliverance of the people of Northern Iraq from the terrible advancement of ISIS and its extreme Islamic goals for mass conversion or death for Christians across this region.
May I plead with you not to ignore this email. Do not forward it before you have prayed through it. Then send it to as many people as possible.
Send it to friends and Christians you may know. Send it to your prayer group. Send it to your pastor and phone him/her to pray on Sunday during the service – making a special time of prayer for this. We need to stand in the gap for our fellow Christians.
Gerard Alvarez cfc
Letter from the Redemptorist Superior General, Fr. Michael Brehl C.Ss.R., regarding the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, and the letter from the Redemptorist Archbishop, Bashar Warda, who made his Novitiate in Dundalk in Ireland in the late ’90′s.
LETTER FROM OUR SUPERIOR GENERAL ON THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN IRAQ
Dear Confreres and friends,
All of us are very aware of the serious humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Not only must we pray for peace, and support international efforts to negotiate an end to the violence and war, but we are very aware of the needs of thousands of families who have been forced from their homes. As our confrere, Archbishop Bashar Warda, C.Ss.R., recounts in his letter, many tens of thousands are now refugees relying on the assistance of the Christian community of the Archdiocese of Erbil.
Again this week in his Angelus address, the Holy Father appeals to all people of good will not only to pray for peace, but also to offer concrete assistance to the suffering people of Iraq. Through Archbishop Bashar, we are offered the possibility of responding concretely to their needs. I encourage you to be as generous as you can in the face of this crisis so that the Archdiocese of Erbil and the whole Christian community can come to the aid of these refugee families. In their name, I thank you for your generosity.
May the God of peace and justice hear the cry of his people and respond through the efforts to restore peace to Iraq. May Mary, the mother of the oppressed and refugees, accompany these families. May God bless the Christian community reaching out to care for them in their hour of crisis.
Your brother in the Redeemer,
Michael Brehl, C.Ss.R.
Superior General.
16 August 2014
As mentioned in the letter of Fr. General, Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar M. Warda C.Ss.R., has made an appeal to the Confreres and friends of our Congregation for financial assistance to support the Christians who have sought refuge in his archdiocese. The letter of appeal is given below.
Fr. Warda first arrived in Ireland in December 1995 and spent the following nine months learning English. In August 1996 he entered the Redemptorist novitiate in Dundalk and professed his vows as a Redemptorist on 24th August 1997. Following some higher studies he returned to Iraq. In May 2010 he was appointed bishop of Ebril, a diocese in northern Iraq.
The letter of the Archbishop Bashar M. Warda C.Ss.R.
Dear Confreres in Christ,
As you might know from the news media, the city of Mosul in the North of Iraq, has been captured by fanatic militia, which persecuted the Christians, with the result that the Christian communities in Mosul, and the neighbouring villages have been dispersed. Most of them have sought a refuge in our diocese, and more than thousand families from the Mosul area are now here in Ankawa, asking refuge and shelter. We are welcoming our brothers and sisters as good as we can. Many of our families are doubling up with relatives who have fled the violence. Additional displaced souls are in camps. These past few days the Kurdish Directorate of Immigration has been using Archdiocesan facilities to register applications for residence with in the Kurdish provinces.
Those communities still residing close to Mosul are expecting, within the coming weeks, additional threats to their safety as well. Shortages of water, food, and electricity aggravate the situation. Our struggle to meet the immediate needs of these most recent members of our refugee communities is going to be protracted.
I am approaching you, my brothers in the congregation, with a request for generous cash donations which will help us ease the suffering. Your gifts will allow us to provide food, housing supplies, things needed to allow more basic hygiene.
Many of us in the Archdiocese of Erbil arrived a few years ago. We have experienced what these most recently displaced families are going through now. As a Christian community we are suffering together, and we try to prepare for a long term. Whether those families emigrate or whether they remain in Iraq, our actual concern is their well-being, and we hope and pray for the stability and the Peace of Christ.
Those of us who choose to remain in Iraq do so because we love our homeland and believe that there is a future for us. Stability is essential to our survival, as is education and employment. All of us are striving to do our part to achieve a lasting peace, and life in a just, pluralistic society. Your charity will play a key role in allowing us to start again.
Thank you for hearing my personal appeal.
In Christ the Redeemer,
Bashar M. Warda C.Ss.R.
Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil – With residence in Ankawa. 15th August 2014
ANY DONATIONS WILL BE FORWARDED VIA OUR REDEMPTORIST PROVINCIAL, FR. MICHAEL KELLEHER, at Liguori House, 75 Orwell Road, Dublin, or through your local Redemptorist Community.
August 1st: Feast of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Founder of the Redemptorists.
Italian stamp issued in 1987, for 200 anniversary of death of Alphonsus de Liguori.
Feast of St. Alphonsus de Liguori. August 1st. The Spirituality of St. Alphonsus.
(See below for ‘Alphonsus, a Man on Fire‘,- poem reflection.
The Spirituality of St. Alphonsus de Liguori’:
In the General Introduction to the volume ‘Alphonsus de Liguori-Selected Writings’, in the Classics of Western Spirituality (Paulist Press, 1999), Fr. Frederick Jones, (author of ‘Alphonsus de Liguori, The Saint of Bourbon Naples 1696-1787) writes:
‘There is wide agreement in regard to the main outlines of a synthesis of Alphonsus’ spiritual doctrine. He began with the insistence that holiness and the highest degree of holiness are within the grasp of every human being: ‘God wishes that all should become saints, the priest as priest, those who are married in their married state, those engaged in commerce in the exercise of their business, soldiers as soldiers and so on for everyone else.’ Sanctity is not incompatible with any state of life. Alphonsus preached this doctrine along the streets of Naples, in the country villages, in the piazze of innumerable centres of population. (Note: ‘The Universal Call to Holiness’ is found in Vatican 11 ‘Lumen Gentium Chapter 2. Ed)
The holiness he inculcated is not some vague feeling or aspiration; it consists simply in the love of God. It was to be the constant effort of every confessor, even in the remotest regions with the most uneducated of persons, as well as of every spiritual director, to awaken this love of God in souls. God as been infinitely good to us. We see his goodness manifested above all in the person of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. ‘What more could God do for us”’ is a recurring question as Alphonsus dialogues with souls to bring them to ‘show love for love’. ‘So many preachers and confessors neglect to speak of love for Jesus Christ which should be the principle, if not the only devotion of a Christian,’ he complains in his Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There is nothing complicated about his exhortations to love God in Jesus Christ, as he outlines, with unashamed emphasis on the imagination and the emotions, all aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation from the birth of Jesus to his death on the Cross.’ (op. cit. p.47)
A favourite phrase of Alphonsus was to speak of God as ‘pazzo per amore’, -crazy with
Alphonsus is referred to as 'Mediator of the Charism of Redemption' in the Church.
love for us, or ‘impazzito per amore’, made crazy with love for humans. (The word ‘pazzo’ occurs 175 times in his writings). It was at the heart of his preaching, and it was manifested most clearly in the humanity of Jesus Christ, from his birth in Bethlehem to his death on Calvary: manifested in the Eucharist among us: manifested in the motherhood of Mary for us all. ‘Return love for love’ is what Alphonsus asks, again and again.
In the Office of Readings for the feast of St. Alphonsus (August 1st), and in the Office of Readings for the feast of St. Teresa of Avila (October 15th), we find this very same phrase occurring: August 1st: ‘in gratitude for so many gifts (we) should return love for love to (our) Creator’. October 15th: ‘Let us bear in mind too how great is the love God has shown us, since he has given us in Christ such a pledge of that love which he has for us; for love calls for a return of love.’
Among Redemptorists, Teresa of Avila is known as ‘our holy Grandmother’, such was the influence her writings had on Alphonsus. Both give great emphasis to going to God continually through the humanity of Jesus Christ. Teresa, in the same reading for October 15th, says: ‘I made further careful investigations and learned that holy contemplatives like Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard and Catherine of Siena advanced by no other way that this one.’
The four ‘pillars’ of Alphonsus’ preaching and call to holiness were: Crib, Cross, Eucharist, Mary.
‘Return love for love’ was at the heart of Alphonsus’ preaching.
S. Devitt, C.Ss.R.
Click here to read about Pope Emeritus Benedict VI, New Evangelisation and St. Alphonsus Liguori, from The Sunday Visitor. Click here to read full text of Pope Benedict’s talk, at a General Audience on March 30, 2011, on St. Alphonsus.
Detail from newly-written Icon of Alphonsus de Liguori.
ALPHONSUS, A MAN ON FIRE:
“Return Love for Love”
is what he said to do.
When all was said and done, this was his heart’s deep cry,-
‘return love, for love’.
Live in the Birth of Bethlehem,
walk in its stables,
smell its smells,
and then
be filled with speechless wonder
at the One Who Is,
and who is lying in the food-trough of
the beasts.
Live in the Call of Calvary,
Come back again to stand
upon that hill,
don’t run away from the awe-filled
horror as you stand
and gaze at our Messiah,-
Sent by the One who so greatly
loved the World.
Live in the shadow of its radiance.
Live in the ever-lasting gift of Eucharist,
Behold the Man! Behold the Lamb!
Behold your God, given in a wafer:
Drink in the meaning of the Cup.
‘Can you drink the cup that I must drink?’ (Mark 10:38-39)
‘We can…’ said those
two Thunder Brothers to their Lord. (Mark 3:17)
And so can we,- drink of the
overflowing cup of given life.
Return love for love.
‘Live in my love’, said He.
‘As He (my Father) has loved me, (John 15:9)
that is the very how
my love is now
for you!’
Come, live in it, and drink of it,-
Come, laugh and dance in it
with Mary, -who ‘rejoices in God my Saviour’ (Luke 1),-
‘so that your joy may be full’. (John 15:11)
If he has so loved us,-
then we
might live our lives,
returning love for love.
(Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.)
( Memories of visit to Naples-Scala, and of page 47 of Frederick Jones’ book on the writings of Alphonsus Liguori, in Classics of Western Spirituality Series..)
A Redemptorist Ireland Website