A Poem A Day from the George Hail Library ~ Selected by Maria Horvath: You’re Here

A Poem A Day from the George Hail Library ~ Selected by Maria Horvath: You’re Here: 

     

( The Great Gate of Kiev by Wassily Kandinsky, 1866- 1944, Russian painter) 

                   Sometimes a poet will choose an unusual metaphor...

You’re here. We breathe the self same air.
Your presence here is like the city,
like quiet Kiev wrapped in sultry
sunbeams there outside the window.

It hasn’t slept its sleep yet,
but struggles in its dream, unconquered.
It tears the bricks from off its neck
like a sweaty Shantung collar.

In it, perspiring in their leaves
from obstacles they’ve just got over,
the poplars gather in a crowd
wearily on the conquered pavement.

You make me think of the Dnieper there,
in its green skin of creeks and ditches,
the center-of-the-earth’s complaint book
for us to write our daily notes in.

Your presence here is like a call
to sit down hastily at midday,
to read through it from A to Z
and then to write your nearness in it.

~ Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), 'You're Here'

Holy Face Novena: Day 7

...and First Saturday...

(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer).(p.l)

Psalm 51,14-15.

Give me again the joy of your help,

with a spirit of fervour sustain me,

that I may teach transgressors your ways

and sinners may return to you.

Lord Jesus! After contemplating Thy features, disfigured

by grief, after meditating upon Thy passion with compunction

and love, how can our hearts fail to be inflamed with a holy

hatred of sin, which even now outrages Thy Adorable Face!

Lord, suffer us not to be content with mere compassion, but

give us grace so closely to follow Thee in this Calvary, so

that the approbrium destined for Thee may fall on us, 0

Jesus, that thus we may have a share, small though it may

be, in expiation of sin. Amen. Mary, our Mother, intercede

for us. Saint Joseph pray for us.

Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy

Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon

and mercy. 

Prayer in Honour of Mary

Hail Mary, Daughter of God the Father! Hail Mary, Mother

of God the Son! Hail Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit! Hail

Mary, Temple of the Most Holy Trinity! Hail Mary, our

mistress, our wealth, our mystic rose. Queen of our hearts,

our Mother, our life, our sweetness and our dearest hope!

We are all Thine, and all we have is Thine. O Virgin blessed

above all things, may Thy soul be in us to magnify the Lord;

may Thy spirit be in us to rejoice in God. Place Thyself, 0

faithful Virgin, as a seal upon our hearts, that in Thee and

through Thee we may be found faithful to God. Grant, most

gracious Virgin, that we may be numbered among those

whom Thou art pleased to love, to teach and to guide, to

favour and to protect as Thy children. Grant that with the help

of Thy love, we may despise all earthly consolation and cling

to heavenly things, until through the Holy Spirit, Thy faithful

spouse, and through Thee, His faithful spouse, Jesus Christ,

Thy Son, be formed within us for the glory of the Father.

Amen. (St. Grignon de Montfort)

Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)

Glory Be.

O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.

(Three times)

....at the Foot of the Cross:  

Mary his mother, John the Beloved Apostle, Mary Magdalene and the 'other women'...

Rev. 12:6.  Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished...

                “In the Beginning He made them male and female.” -Genesis

His Mother remained beneath the Cross.  The Gold Medallion of the High Priest is still being tarnished.  It takes no intelligence to understand how ‘woman’ is denigrated everywhere--abused, beaten, raped, humiliated, murdered, used.  Christ our High Priest bent down and wrote in the sand...and they all went away beginning with the eldest.

                       “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

          *How hard today for even children to believe such a thing ever to be possible.*

Holy Face Novena: Day 6 - Viva Cristo Rey!

(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer).(p. 1)
Psalm 51,12-13.
A pure heart create for us O God,
put a steadfast spirit within us.
Do not cast us away from your presence
nor deprive us of your Holy Spirit.
May our hearts be cleansed, O Lord, by the inpouring of
the Holy Spirit, and may He render them fruitful by watering
them with His heavenly dew. Mary, the most chaste spouse
of the Holy Spirit, intercede for us, Saint Joseph pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy.

Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel
O Victorious Prince, most humble guardian of the Church
of God and of faithful souls, who with such charity and zeal
took part in so many conflicts and gained such great victories
over the enemy, for the conservation and protection of the
honour and glory we all owe to God, as well as for the promo-
tion of our salvation; come, we pray Thee, to our assistance.
for we are continually besieged with such great perils by our
enemies, the flesh, the world and the devil, and as Thou
wast a leader for the people of God through the desert, so
also be our faithful leader, and companion through the desert
of this world, until Thou conduct us safely into the happy
land of the living, in that blessed fatherland from which we
are all exiles. Amen. (St. Aloysius)
Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)
Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)

¡Viva Cristo Rey!

There is a name, now, for that culture which resisted – and that name is Vendée.  Perhaps not the name you were expecting.  But that is the narrative I grew up with.  It is the narrative of the terrible history of the people of western France, particularly Vendée and Brittany during the French Revolution, a story of both great hideousness and great heroism.  Out of the ashes of Vendée, rose Vendée itself.  It is a story which until very recently was suppressed and denied.  Generations of lies have meant that most French people never knew it.  Only the people of Vendée and Brittany themselves kept it alive, through never forgetting.  It is only in the last two years that major memorials have been put up to the Vendéen martyrs, and then only by local government, never by the central one; only very recently that the Republic of France has begun to acknowledge the horrors of what can be seen as perhaps the first modern genocide.  I was brought up with it because one side of my father's family came from Vendée (the other came from the South); we were taught the stories, the songs of resistance, we felt the pain and horror and, yes, hate and yet also the astonishing surviving spirit of the Vendéen people, the spirit of the Chouans. 

The Chouans! I was brought up on their names, their stories, stories that were for so long suppressed, but that stayed in the hearts, the minds, the words of their descendants.  Once, to even mention them would be to invite fashionable scorn, ridicule, contempt and even hate.  "Superstitious savages"; "obstacles to progress"; "deluded fools" – these were just some of the gentler terms.  It is easy to see why.  For to look at their real stories, to peel away the generations of lies, is to invite some very uncomfortable reflections indeed. 

In 1789, the French Revolution began, a revolution that at first was full of optimism, of the genuine wish for reform; a revolution that was not even opposed by King Louis XVI himself.  This was the Enlightenment.  Humanity was to be trusted to behave well.  Liberty, equality, fraternity.  Who could argue with that? Very few did, least of all the peasants of western France, who welcomed many of the changes – the abolition of compulsory labour, the gradual abolition of privilege.  The revolutionaries produced a passionate and idealistic document, the Declaration of the Rights of Man.  Some of those rights were the right to freedom of religion; the right to live peacefully, without tyranny or arbitrary rule; the right to discuss.  Alas! While Desmoulins and Danton debated and wrote passionately, Robespierre bided his time.  That time came all too soon. 

[...]

In 1790, the first cracks began to appear.  Provincial assemblies were abolished, stripping people of their local governments.  The clergy was to be stripped of its property and would be appointed by lay people, not the church.  In practice, this meant that the bourgeois of the cities now had the right of imposing chosen priests on peasant communities.  Vendée and Brittany and Normandy began to stir at this; they were greatly attached to their own priests and resisted the imposition of others.  A year later, the King was arrested.  Riots erupted in Brittany.  In 1792, the extremist Jacobins under the leadership of Robespierre took power and formed the now infamous Convention.  And then the horrors began in earnest. 

The atrocities multiplied, the exterminations systematic and initiated from the very top, and carried out with glee at the bottom.  At least 300,000 people were massacred during that time, and those of the intruders who refused to do the job were either shot or discredited utterly.  But still the people resisted.  Still there were those who hid in the forests and ambushed, who fought as bravely as lions but were butchered like pigs when they were caught.  No quarter was given; all the leaders were shot, beheaded, or hanged.  Many were not even allowed to rest in peace; the body of the last leader was cut up and distributed to scientists; his head was pickled in a jar, the brain examined to see where the seed of rebellion lay in the mind of a savage. 

That was two hundred years ago; but at the recent bicentenary celebrated by the intruders, not a mention was made of the dead.  Not a mention was made of the genocide.  It was the people themselves who remembered.  For that is what the intruders did not take into account: memory.  The people still tell the tale, vividly, with pain.  But their pain is not that only of victims.  It is a glowing, rich thing, a thing that paradoxically enabled them to survive.  Paradoxically, it united them in a way that could never otherwise have been possible.  At least half of the people of that secret, remote and beautiful land died during that hideous time, but their memory is still there.  They live forever in the minds of their descendants but also in the land itself.  For they did not give away their land, their soul.  And now that things are changing, a little, now that the descendants of the intruders are discovering the truth about their glorious past, now the people are beginning to tell their stories, out loud, out where it can be heard.  Still, there is a long way to go...

~Sophie Masson, Battle of Savenay, Remembering the Vendée

The sea rolls over my feet, and as it retreats, I notice it has left me something.  I bend over to pick it up.  A perfect fossil, an amnonite in white stone, beautifully imprinted, so frail-looking, yet so enduring, patiently preserving the memory of something long gone.  And as I look at it in my hand, on this beach where my ancestors once walked, incongruously, tears prick at the backs of my eyes.

May 29, 2004

Sophie Masson [send her mail] is a French-Australian writer, some of whose ancestors came from Longeville, in Vendée. She also has Southern French, Basque, Spanish, Portuguese, Scottish, and Canadian ancestry. Sophie was born in Indonesia but has lived in Australia since the age of 5. She is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Visit her website. First published in Quadrant magazine, Melbourne, Australia, in 1996.  © Sophie Masson, 1996

¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Bd. Miguel Pro SJ, Martyr

       Father Pro [Guard Duty site]

                    

....General Cruz granted Father Miguel Pro’s final request to have a few moments for prayer. Father Pro knelt silently for two minutes then stood up. He was offfered a blindfold but refused. Instead he stretched out his arms in the form of a cross and said in a loud voice, “Viva, Cristo Rey” (“Long live Christ the King!”) Shots rang out from the firing squad and Father Pro fell to the ground. He was still breathing, so General Cruz walked over and fired a final rifle shot to the priest’s head…

Sometime before his death, Father Pro told a friend, “If I ever get arrested and wind up in Heaven, get ready to ask me for favors.” He also joked that if he came upon any somber-looking saints in heaven, he would do a Mexican hat dance to cheer them up. At his funeral an old blind woman in the crowd who came to touch his body left with her sight restored. Others testified to his miraculous help within a week of his death…

- From a homily by Father Peter Grace, CP Saint Ann’s Basilica, Scranton, PA

Comment at Guard Duty site:

I saw your article on Miguel Pro. My grandfather was a Cristero during the persecution of the Church in the 1920′s. My grandmother taught catechism in hiding. My grandfather and grandmother also helped to hiding priests in the state of Jalisco. On my maternal side of the family we were taught to be proud of the faith and to love all aspects of Her.

Unfortunately after many years of being in America my family has, in one generation, left the Church. There are probably 7 of us that are still practicing Catholics. (Most have joined fundamentalist churches). I wonder if my grandparents would have known this if they would have come to America?      (Tomas)TT

The Cristero War (1926–29) also known as La Cristiada, was an attempted counter-revolution against the anti-clericalism of the ruling Mexican government. Based in western Mexico, the rebellion was set off by the enforcement of theMexican Constitution of 1917 by Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles, in order to hinder the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and its sub-organizations.

The Mexican Revolution was the largest rebellion in Mexican history. It was based on the peasants' overwhelming demand for land and for social justice. The Catholic Church was cautious not to support the revolution, which at times threatened the property rights of many Mexicans. The Calles' administration felt its revolutionary initiatives, such as those against private property and Catholic schools, were being threatened by the Church. As a solution to the Church's influence over the Mexican people, the anti-clerical statutes of the Constitution were instituted, beginning a 10-year persecution of Catholics, resulting in the death of thousands.

Mexican government forces publicly hanged Cristero rebels on telegraph poles in Jalisco, Mexico. The tactic was used throughout the war, with bodies often remaining on the poles until the pueblo or town renounced public religious practice.

After a period of peaceful resistance by Mexican Catholics, skirmishing took place in 1926; and violent uprisings began in 1927.^[1] The rebels called themselves Cristeros, invoking the name of Jesus Christ under the title of "Cristo Rey" or Christ the King. The rebellion is known for the women who assisted the rebels in smuggling guns and ammunition and for certain priests who were tortured and murdered in public and later canonized by Pope John Paul II.

The Catholic Church has recognized several of those killed in the Cristero rebellion as martyrs, including the Blessed Miguel Pro(SJ), who was executed by firing squad on 23 November 1927—without a trial—on trumped-up charges of involvement in an assassination attempt against former President Álvaro Obregón but in actuality for his priestly activities in defiance of the government.^{[46][47][48][49][50][51]} His beatification occurred in 1988...   Wikipedia, Cristero War

'Cocol'

...While exercising his secret ministry as a priest, Father Pro signed many of his letters "Cocol." As a child, he once had a bad fall which knocked him senseless. When he came to, seeing the worried faces of his parents, he immediately asked for some cocol, his favorite type of Mexican sweet bread. Because of this, he acquired the nickname "Cocol." When he signed his letters this way as a priest in hiding, it reminded people not only of the delicious treat, but also of the living bread of the Eucharist.

"Ave and good evenin’ to ye, Father.
Seems to me ye’ve changed a wee bit."

• Blessed Miguel Pro Heroic Mexican Martyr contains his biography taken from Ann Ball's works as well as a chaplet and several photographs. This is part of a larger work dedicated to Catholic Saints.
• Fr. Pro’s Funeral
•   Thousands accompanied Fr. Pro at his funeral...

...November 24, 1927, at the front of the Jesuit church of the Holy Family, a multitude accompanied the remains of Father Pro.  Father Mendez Medina cried out, "Make way for the martyrs of Christ the King!"  In response, a great and unanimous cry soared from the hearts and mouths of thousands:.. "¡Viva Cristo Rey!"
                                                      

 Bd.Miguel Pro SJ in Nicaragua
These photos, made in Nicaragua in 1921, show Miguel with some of his students and on a picnic day in the country.  One of his students remembered "We all thought he was the best teacher in the world." In his joking manner, Miguel remarked, "There is nothing more agreeable than to be persecuted by a multitude of insects and snakes in the wonderful heat and humidity of this land."

                                          Sacred Heart of Jesus we trust in You

Hoy Face Novena: Day 5

(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer).(p. 1)

Psalm 51,10-11.
Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,
that the bones you have crushed may revive.
From my sins turn away your Face,
and blot out all my guilt.
Holy Face of Jesus, Sacred Countenance of God, how
great is your patience with humankind, how infinite your
forgiveness. We are sinners, yet you love us. This gives us
courage. For the glory of your Holy Face and of the Blessed
Trinity, hear and answer us. Mary our Mother, intercede for
us, Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy.

Prayer to Saint Joseph
Dear Saint Joseph! Adopt us as thy children, take charge
of our salvation; watch over us day and night; preserve us
from occasions of sin; obtain for us purity of body and soul,
and the spirit of prayer, through thy intercession with Jesus,
grant us a spirit of sacrifice, of humility and self-denial;
obtain for us a burning love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacra-
ment, and a sweet, tender love for Mary, our Mother.
Saint Joseph, be with us in life, be with us in death and
obtain for us a favourable judgment from Jesus, our merciful
Saviour. Amen.
Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)
Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)

…Ideologues are in fact only miserable plagiarizers who dress up ancient error in new tinsel. It matters little whether they rally round the flag of the social revolution...or are possessed by the superstition of race and blood."  Cardinal Pacelli, 1935

The full text reads (Ex 8:16 among others," ...ko amar Hashem shalach ami veya'avduni-...thus saith the L*rd, let my people go (so that/and) they shall serve me."
In other words, the proper question we might ask ourselves is "wherefore freedom?"
What is the point, to what end, do we seek to live in a "free"society? The notion of freedom is explicit, and so is its purpose. The text seems to indicate that freedom without properly understood Divine ends necessarily devolves into a dark nihilistic morass. Society and its malcontents (sic) desperately need to imbibe this imperative to place spirituality, the quest for Divine service, front and center of any social enterprise.

Holiness Traits: Being a 'Real' Human:
        ---Humility     ---Kindness     ---Gentleness     ---Integrity
        ---Chesed: "[Chesed] does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for some one in trouble. Chesed, mercy, means the ability to get right inside the other person's skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings. also, have seen it as[Hesed]
        ---Tolerance    ---Genuineness     ---Selflessness

1 Samuel 16: 7 "For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the HEART" and Matthew 23: 27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

The Truth will set you free.  But, remember:

"You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd." ~Flannery O’Connor

The Wisdom of Tenderness

“My experience today is much more the discovery how vulnerable God is. You see, God is so respectful of our freedom. And if as the Epistle of John says that God is love, anyone who has loved in their life knows they've become vulnerable."

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16)

In Leviticus 19:18 the Torah says that we should "love our neighbor as (we love) ourselves." The Hebrew reads ve'ahavta le're'acha kamocha. Reah, meaning "neighbor," has also the same spelling as ra'ah, meaning "bad" or "evil." So it could also be understood as teaching that we should try to love our bad or evil neighbor as ourselves. This makes sense, because through the act of trying we could ignite a change and turn him around. We may fail in the end, but we need to try just the same. To give up trying is to abandon hope for a better world.
Many people react instinctively and mimic our actions or emotional states. Some people may respond to a loving gesture with love. The answer to darkness is light. The answer to hate is love. But hard core evil is oblivious to such gestures. Such evil is beyond the pale. But only through showing love can we learn to tell the difference between redeemable evil and unredeemable hard core evil.

The Torah thus is teaching us that there is a special value in comforting the sad, or even those who intend us harm. Perhaps the act of kindness will help those who are wounded and awaken those who do evil to do teshuvah and repent of their ways.

"If you believe that you can damage, then believe that you can fix..... If you believe that you can harm, then believe that you can heal..........." Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Doing: 'Metanoia and Teshunah'

As we look toward a new year, it is easy to lose sight of the spiritual dimensions of our lives. Sadly, life in all its craziness distracts from opportunities to grow spiritually. In Paul’s epistles, he uses the term, ‘metanoia’ a Greek word that means ‘a change of heart.’ It echoes the Hebrew word “teshunah” which means ‘turning around.’

…turn from old, self-destructive habits and try with renewed vigor to rediscover the spiritual and Christ-like dimensions of our lives. We’re called to embrace a resolution of the heart and spirit that alone can bring us true happiness, peace, hope and joy. We must be willing to listen to God’s message with our whole hearts and then be willing to change things that keep us from developing a deeper religious core. The goal is a spiritual revolution from within, in which we stand simply before God with our arms extended, ready to do God’s will, trusting him with our whole hearts. No one changes themselves 'alone'; we all need help.

By the Way...

How did you treat your husband, your wife, your son, your daughter, your mother-in-law, your father-in-law this morning before you went to work?

The great saint, Mother Teresa, often met people who wanted to follow her to India. She would smile and say, “God wants you to go home and take care of your own family.” Good advice, take care of those around you including yourself. Mother Teresa had a keen understanding of what God wanted of her life and of our own. “God does not want us to do great things,” she said. “God wants us to do small things with great love.” Let that be a New Year’s resolution: to do all the small things in our lives with great love.

Words can 'break' hearts, spirits and eventually bones...

It begins with how we speak to each other for violence begins with words which come out of our hearts.  True healing and wisdom come only out of a changed heart.  Only Jesus Christ changes hearts but He does that from The Cross.

                                        “Take up your cross daily...”

          BLESS each other...Bless...Love...Encourage...Support...Share...

Why do I bring this up today? Yesterday in the grocery store checkout a beautiful two year old boy was angry that his mother would not buy a bag of candy so he screamed at her...'f-k you...

I still remember how silence filled that part of the store.  Tears filled her eyes, mine and many others.  It sucked the breath from all of us that a child, a child!, should already be using such spiritually violent words against his Mother.  There is only one question: Where did he first hear that?  

    To speak such words to those whom we say we love is terribly wrong and a horrible sin. Repentance and healing should begin right there between those we have so harmed.  And the child?

Love Your Enemies

Matthew 5…43"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' 44"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

                              Sacred Heart of Jesus I Trust in You.

Holy Face Novena: Day 4

(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer).(p. 1)

Psalm 51,8-9.
Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me Wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me. I shall be whiter than snow.
O Lord Jesus, who has said, learn of me for I am meek
and gentle of heart, and who did manifest upon Thy Holy
Face the sentiments of Thy divine heart, grant that we may
love to come frequently and meditate upon Thy divine fea-
tures. We may read there Thy gentleness and Thy humility,
and learn how to form our hearts in the practice of these two
virtues which Thou desires to see shine in Thy servants.
Mary our Mother and Saint Joseph help us.
Through the merits of Thy precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy.
Prayer in Honour of the Dolours of the Blessed Virgin
O Most Holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs! Who
stood beneath the cross, witnessing the agony of your dying
Son, look down with a mother's tenderness and pity on us
as we kneel before you to venerate your Dolours and place
our requests, with filial confidence, in the sanctuary of your
wounded heart. Present them on our behalf to Jesus, through
the merits of His most sacred Passion and Death, together
with your sufferings at the foot of the cross, and through the
united efficacy of both, obtain the favour which we humbly
ask. To whom shall we go in our wants and miseries if not
to you. O Mother of Mercy, who having so deeply drunk of
the chalice of your Son, graciously alleviate the sufferings
of those who still sigh in this land of exile. Amen.

Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory
My Jesus, by the sorrows you suffered in your agony in
the garden, in your scourging and crowning with thorns, in
the way to Calvary, in your crucifixion and death, have
mercy on the souls in Purgatory, and especially on those that
are most forsaken. Deliver them from the dire torments they
endure. Call them and admit them to your most sweet embrace
in Paradise. Amen.
Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)
Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)

Intergenerational Trauma

...children’s minds can be unwittingly imprinted by the experiences of prior generations. Such transmission is one of the most vexing aspects of the issue. Isn’t it bad enough for survivors to have been traumatized? Must they also be unwilling vehicles for trauma to their offspring? But then trauma is not just; and its unfairness is universal.

experiences are most prone to be transmitted from parents to children is when the children are young, and when the parents are traumatized. When both conditions prevail, transmission is especially likely to occur.

Childhood

The younger the child, the more vulnerable it is. In order to survive, until the age

of 3, children’s developing brains and physiological systems tune in to environmental,

especially maternal influences. They drink in the world with their mother’s milk. They

imbibe and respond to their parents’ physiological and behavioural responses and both

become imprinted in the developing brain and its connections.

Between 3 and 7, language and thinking develop, but are not cohesive.

Physiological attunements are replaced by mental attunements in the form of imitation

and obedience, especially in stressful situations. The child fantasizes a benevolent

coherent world arranged for it by its parents-gods. If things go wrong, children believe

that it was because they were not obedient, good enough.

    “How many times have you heard my father did it this way and his father before him...never realizing it may not be a positive ‘historia’ to pass on to a child...?”

After the age of seven, children’s minds are much more cohesive, and achieve

ever greater capacity for critical thinking. But the early imprints are stored unaltered and

can sometimes unwittingly over-ride the logical mind.

Parental traumas included multiple separations, losses of family friends and communities, humiliations, powerlessness and helplessness. In traumatic situations survivor parents reacted in some ways like survival driven children:

they responded physiologically and behaviorally, without thinking, instinctively evoking primitive brain circuits like, fight, flight, attachment and struggle, depending on the situation.

When thoughts entered their traumatized minds, they did so in fragments like in

children. Seeing how things had gone wrong, like children, survivors often blamed

themselves, for instance suffering survivor guilt. They might view themselves as

unworthy to have survived.

Massive traumas and subsequent interpretations may be so unbearable that they

were pushed out of awareness. Thoughts, memories and feelings associated with the

traumas were pushed into a void, sometimes called the unconscious. Traumas became

untellable, unspeakable dark black holes.

Yet no matter how hidden, physiological, emotional, behavioral, and attitudinal

fragments, especially if triggered by circumstances reminiscent of the trauma, flooded

into the visible world. These fragments on their own, disconnected from their sources, did

not make sense. They were often called symptoms.

Secondary traumatization; transmission of trauma

Children of traumatized parents, especially young ones, experience their parentgods

as not recognising them as the children that they are, and only inconstantly tending

to their needs. Rather, they experience them either screaming silently, untellably,

incoherently, mysteriously, from their black holes, or exploding like gods of thunder and

lightning in audible screams, and irrational symptoms. Children’s own physiologies,

sensations, feelings, behaviours and attitudes alternate between imbibing and rebelling

against parents’ over-silent or over-loud responses. In either case they are drawn into

their parents’ traumas, and are secondarily traumatized by them.

They experience double trouble: not only are they required to adjust to their parents’ alternating physiological circuits, emotions, behaviors and attitudes, but they must cope with their own automatic survival responses to their parents. They may not understand either. Their own stories may be in untellable fragments.

And as happened with their parents, when thought glimmers beyond automatic reactions in these children of survivors, they may feel guilt; for having brought on their parents’ suffering, not having rescued their parents from their troubles, not enlivened them sufficiently...                 -Transgenerational Trauma

===============

Sooner or Later

If you are going to work with severe abuse survivors, you must also get educated if you want to be effective. And you must learn to be humble. Trauma survivors do not need to be around ignorant, modern-day Pharisees. Survivors in pain need people who will connect with them on an emotional level, get right down in there where they are, and listen. --Kathleen Sullivan

Sooner or later the wounds will fester and explode in physical and emotional dis-eases.

These wounds have to be addressed as ‘justice’.  Whole generations of families are not allowed to grieve properly.  Whole communities are affected. 
“Whenever a person has experienced an injury to the core self, re-experiencing the injury is so deeply unsettling that it feels like a sort of death; it is emotionally agonizing and even physically searing...Such pain needs someone who can understand such depths and who is able to empathize and stand with a person so wounded...Almost always a professional aptly trained in such areas is absolutely necessary.”
We need to come to terms with the fact that the grieving process cannot be rushed.  None of us find any pleasure in seeing people we loved overwhelmed with sorrow, but we must resist the temptation of trying to push them to instant recovery.  There is nothing we can do or say, there is no verse or funeral lesson that can grant immunity from sorrow.  People must be allowed to grieve (Genesis 37:34-35; 2 Samuel 12:17).  It is significant to note that other cultures had lengthy periods of mourning (Genesis 50:3), and even professional mourners existed who, among other things, served to assist the family in venting their grief (Jeremiah 9:17).   We are making a mistake when we quickly try to make everything better or act as if nothing had happened (Proverbs 25:20).
Sometimes the wounds are so deep, so complex and traumatic that healing may also be complex and as traumatic as physical surgery.

"For it is a good thing to have a broken heart, and pleasing to God, as it is written: 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit...' [Psalm 51:19]...God does not entirely heal those who have broken hearts. He only eases their suffering, lest it torment and deject them...”

~Thomas à Kempis

In one sonnet,No Worst, There is None, Fr. Gerard Hopkins SJ writes:
"O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there.
Those who struggle with mental illness know the mountains of the mind and how dangerous they can be. At times they hang, as it were, by a thread over a precipice. Those who have not struggled in this way have a hard time understanding.
Another among what are known as "The Terrible Sonnets," captures the experience of darkness and despair and the silence of God.
"I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day,
What hours, O what black hours we have spent
This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must yet, in longer light's delay.
With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent
To dearest him that lives alas! away.

How does the poet deal with this? How does he try to deal with himself?

"My own heart let me more have pity on; let
Me live to my sad self hereafter kind,
Charitable; not live this tormented mind
With this tormented mind tormenting yet.

We must go deeper. We must enter more deeply into the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus…

Christ is there in the bitterest biting pain...with us... We must understand the ambiguities of our own beings.  We must tolerate paradoxes and spectrums in our living being. This, my friend, is the Cross.  In humility we must stay there, at the Foot of the Cross

The Work of Mourning

Soul Wounds

"Just as we seek a doctor without any delay and hasten to apply remedies if some blow or wound comes over our body; so we should act with regard to the wounds of our souls."  ~Saint Caesarius of Arles

                                “I too suffer from the wounds of My friends…”

                                  Sacred Heart of Jesus I trust in You.

Holy Face Novena:Day 3

THIRD DAY

(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer).(p. 1)
Psalm 51,6b-7.
You are just when you pass sentence on me,
blameless when you give judgment.
You know I was born guilty,
a sinner from the moment of conception.
Prayer of Pope Pius IX(‘Pio Nino’):
O Jesus! Cast upon us a look of mercy: turn your Face
towards each of us as you did to Veronica; not that we may
see it with our bodily eyes, for this we do not deserve, but
turn it towards our hearts, so that, remembering you, we
may ever draw from this fountain of strength the vigour neces-
sary to sustain the combats of life. Amen. Mary, our Mother,
and Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy.
Prayer of Saint Francis
All highest, glorious God, cast your light into the darkness
of our hearts, give us true faith, firm hope, perfect charity
and profound humility, so that with wisdom, courage and
perception, O Lord, we may do what is truly your holy will.
Amen.
To the Angels and Saints
We salute you, through the Holy Face and Sacred Heart
of Jesus, O all you Holy Angels and Saints of God. We
rejoice in your glory, and we give thanks to our Lord for
all the benefits which He has showered upon you; we praise
Him, and glorify Him, and for an increase of your joy and
honour, we offer Him the most Holy Face and gentle Heart
of Jesus. Pray that we may become formed according to the
heart of God. Amen.
Pray (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1) Glory
Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)

                         “and I alone have escaped to tell you” (Job 1:15-19).
For those who have survived 'extreme conditions':

The most numerous reflections are those of scholars who most directly work on investigating human behavior in extreme conditions...In this regard, we could identify several particular several fields of investigation, exemplified by the articles selected here below:

1) the support that “creative” activities may give to survival in extreme situations, in that they help reinforce personal identity;

2) the study of social relationships and social identity in extreme conditions through literary accounts: [Or the immense lack of support therein...]

3) the psychology of the surviving witness who has to face not only the trauma of being a survivor but also the responsibility to testify, to be obliged to speak for the others...

4) the subjective dimension of the traumatic experience.

             H. Abramovitch, "Stimulating Ethical Awareness During Training", Journal of Analytical Psychology, LII, 2007, pp. 449–61

   Many may be familiar with Dawn Eden's name because of her powerful conversion story, her long-running blog The Dawn Patrol, her previous book The Thrill of the Chaste, or her writings in the Catholic press. (If not, this episode of EWTN's Life on the Rock is a good introduction. The Dawn Patrol is still active but more as a vehicle for announcements than as a typical blog.)  The book is a spiritual guide to healing the wounds of sexual abuse suffered in childhood and youth.

... I was wrong about its relevance; I soon realized that the counsel it contains is applicable to all sorts of other situations. It wasn't until after I'd finished reading it that I realized that the title doesn't refer specifically to molestation in childhood or youth: it simply says "sexual wounds." And don't we all have those, one way or another? Or, if not specifically sexual wounds, then wounds, period. 

I can say in one sentence that the essence of the book is that love has the power to heal the past. In eight chapters, each bearing a title that begins with the words "The Love," Dawn describes aspects of this healing, using examples from the lives and thoughts of specific saints interwoven with her own experiences to illustrate specific ways by which that healing can happen:

The Love We Forget: Discovering the Father--with St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Josephine Bakhita
The Love That Shelters: Opening our hearts to the Sacred Heart--with Mary, Mother of Hope

And so on. As you can see from those two, the saints brought to bear on this problem are not necessarily ones who suffered from sexual abuse. Ignatius, for instance, might seem an odd one for the purpose. But he appears, and appears first, because he asked God to take, along with everything else of him, his memory:

In Ignatius's understanding of the human mind, the concept of memory refers to more than just particular memories. Memory includes everything that had entered into his consciousness to make him who he was--whether or not he could actually remember it. It forms the foundation of his present identity, including his hopes for his future.

To borrow a phrase from another Jewish convert, Edith Stein, this book can be fairly described as a science of the Cross. The emphasis throughout is not on conquering the past but on accepting it and, most importantly, being reconciled with it in the love of God, and I mean that in the reciprocal sense: God's love for the sufferer, and the sufferer's love for God.

One reads of people surviving terrible traumas (such as the one that recently came to light in Ohio, in which three women were kidnapped and subjected to rape and other mistreatment for ten years). And often the advice given to them, and the intention they announce, give the impression that they are to conquer their emotional damage by sheer force of will: to repress the memories, to adopt an attitude of conquering courage--to triumph by strength and endurance in the way that an athlete does. That at least is the impression that the vocabulary often gives. 

Now, far be it from me to suggest that I know better how to cope with trauma than those who have experienced it. But from the Christian point of view it doesn't seem the most appropriate or indeed effective way. Sufferers are advised not to let the trauma define them, and in one sense this is surely good advice--if it means not to allow one's whole identity to be reduced to that of one who has suffered a specific trauma. In another, though, it isn't the Christian way: we are to some significant extent defined by those things, and we have to incorporate them into ourselves rather than attempt to remove them surgically, so to speak. It is a necessary aspect of the reality of the Cross as it touches each life.

This perhaps is the truth contained in some of the saints' legends that have always struck me as grotesque to say the least, in which the saint is picture in heaven as still exhibiting some mutilation suffered in his or her martyrdom. I really find this hard to handle, and hope it is not literally true. But it is surely symbolically true. 

Be that as it may, in Dawn's case the road of direct resistance simply did not work. Much of the personal story recounted here deals with her attempts to repress the memories and their accompanying emotions, with generally ineffective (if not disastrous) results. It was only by accepting--not "embracing," exactly--her experiences, and placing them, with the assistance of these saints' stories, within her personal salvation history that she has been able to reduce their destructive power over her. (I don't say "conquer," as if it were all over, because things don't generally work that way.) 

Although much of the story has already been told in this book and her other writings, I found myself hoping that Dawn would eventually write an actual memoir or autobiography that would bring all the pieces of personal narrative together in one place. But then maybe this mixture of memoir and theology is the right one for her. 

This book would certainly be a great tool for anyone engaged in counseling victims of sexual abuse, and it includes a number of resources for just that purpose. But, as I said before, it can be useful for anyone who has suffered, which is to say everyone:

Memory does not have to be, nor should it be, the enemy. Rather, as Pope Benedict XVI has written, "Memory and hope are inseparable. To poison the past does not give hope; it destroys its emotional foundations."

(Here is the publisher's page for My Peace I Give You.)

I cannot find the link from the post where this came from...forgive me.

... Michael Bernard-Donals writes in the case traumatic memories, that "testimony marks the absence of events, since they did not register on, let alone become integrated into, the victims' consciousness." So testimony is not about the history of the event, so much as it is about the effect of the event on the victim. Setting this within the framework Caruth has laid out, testimony is about the act of departure, of walking away, and what happens when one manages to walk away, what one can recover after walking away. Furthermore, testimony is an act of asking recognition for the fact that the testifier has managed to walk away, and acknowledgement of what it is they walked away from.
‘Delayed Manifestations”

God reminds us: ‘Their blood cries out from the earth...”

In the delayed manifestation of the generational mystery, we and they are paying for what has been done.  We pay for our own sins but justice requires reparation to the community that has been harmed by the evil.  From the beginning it is required of each person to ‘make things right’.  Serious wounding of a soul must be atoned and set right within society for ‘No man is an island.’  If the contagion were TB or any other disease the transmission would be understood with a society’s communal understanding, research, treatment methods and healing arts with ‘healing’ places.  This same philosophy and belief must be incorporated to include dealing with soul and psychological wounds and diseases.

...” Here is where the limits of psychoanalysis are revealed: even as it tries to get to the origins, it doesn't offer us a solution for the now. What are the measures to take in dealing with these manifestations? Can we, in effect, perform a kind of damage control? ‘

Yes.  Christ’s shed blood ‘atones’ for every sin of every person but we must accept it, come to understand it, and then help wash the feet of our brethren and serve them in shouldering the cross they carry. And we must tenderly wash their face as Veronica washed Christ’s.

                                                    ***

Sweeping things under the rug, hiding things in the dark and rationalizing the ways we harm each other in order to preserve a false peace or more insanely to maintain an image in a community already broken solves nothing.  It is gravely disastrous and destructive.  It is based on fear and pride which destroys love, families and communities. Prestige is self-love often at the expense of others and truth.

                             “Come. Let us reason together.” ~God

“To follow an ancient trace when there seems none
And no light given; to push on through the dark,
Knowing the right direction against the wind;
Simply to keep on at the given task,
Its time and place set by God’s providence..."  ~Helen Pinkerton

                        "Behold, how they loved one another."

Everyone is invited to contribute toward the healing of the festering sexual wound at the heart of mankind.

                 “Without love, forgiveness, justice and reparation the community cannot heal. All of these depend on ‘truth’.  It is only through ‘truth’ that love and healing can flow.

                      “I AM the way, the TRUTH, and the life.” -Jesus
                               Sacred Heart of Jesus I trust in You.

Holy Face Novena: Day 2

SECOND DAY

Our Lord specifically mentioned Veronica's act of compassion and reverence when he made ten promises to Sister Marie of Saint Peter.

(Console Holy Face and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer), (p. 1)
Psalm 51,5-6a.
My offences truly I know them;
My sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
What is evil in your sight I have done.
Most Holy Face of Jesus, we are truly sorry that we have
hurt you so much by constantly doing what is wrong; and
for all the good works we have failed to do. Immaculate
Heart of Mary, Saint Joseph, intercede for us, help us to
console the Most Holy Face of Jesus. Pray that we may share
in the tremendous love Thou hast for one another, and for
the most Holy and Blessed Trinity. Amen.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy
Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition.................. Pardon
and mercy.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, Sanctifier, all powerful God of love,
Thou who didst fill the Virgin Mary with grace, Thou who
didst wonderfully transform the hearts of the apostles. Thou
who didst endow all Thy martyrs with a miraculous heroism,
come and sanctify us, illumine our minds, strengthen our
wills, purify our consciences, rectify our judgments, set our
hearts on fire and preserve us from the misfortune of resisting
Thine inspirations. We consecrate to Thee our understanding,
our heart and our will, our whole being for time and for
eternity. May our understanding be always submissive to
Thy heavenly inspirations and to the teachings of Thy Holy
Catholic Church, of which Thou art the infallible guide; may
our heart he ever inflamed with love of God and neighbour,
may our will be ever conformed to the divine will, and may
our whole life be a faithful imitation of the life and virtues
of our Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ, to whom with the
Father and Thee be honour and glory forever. Amen.
Pray one (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Mary's, one (1)
Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine.
(Three times)

St Jerome: “The Face of Jesus will continue to save each time we have recourse to It; invoking His aid. “Show us Thy Face and we shall be saved.””

Other saints who have venerated the Holy Face, to mention a few are: St. Gregory the Great, St Gertrude, St John Chrysostom, St Ambrose, St Bernard, St Charles Borromeo, St John Bosco, St Francis of Assisi, St Catherine of Siena, St Augustine and, of course St Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face.

St Therese commented, “How much good the Holy Face has done me during my life.” The Holy Face was a continual call to her to suffer so that she might resemble Jesus. St Therese says, “The just will recognize Him not only by the cross - symbol of salvation, which will precede His coming, but more exactly, by His Face, which will shine on the last day.”

The Golden Arrow Prayer

"May the most holy, most sacred,
most adorable, most mysterious
and unutterable Name of God
be always praised, blessed,
loved, adored and glorified,
in heaven, on earth and under the earth,
by all the creatures of God,
and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ
in the most holy Sacrament of the altar."
Amen

Quotations from Sister Saint Pierre Carmelite of Tours

·         "He told me that He wished to give me a "Golden Arrow" wherewith to wound His Heart delightfully, and heal those wounds inflicted by sinner's malice."

·         "He has given it to me as a "Golden Arrow," assuring me that each time I would say it, I would open His Heart with a wound of love."

The Catholic Church’s approach was well defined in a 1996 speech by Bd. Pope John Paul II that encouraged professionals who treat mental illnesses. His major theme was that “whoever suffers from mental illness always bears God’s image and likeness in himself, as does every human being,” with a dignity “unique among all creatures,” and is always “to be treated as such.” He said this belief applies not only to Christian attitudes and to care for the afflicted but to the duty of government to ensure necessary treatment.

The pope also taught that “Christ took all human suffering on himself, even mental illness,” which “perhaps seems the most absurd and incomprehensible” of maladies. Pope Benedict XVI made similar points in a 2005 address and noted that mental disturbance “now afflicts one-fifth of humanity and is a real social-healthcare emergency.”

Richard N. Ostling, a religion writer for the Associated Press

"...the mentally ill are even more vulnerable than the poor..."

                                "Comfort and treat with kindness those who are afflicted."

‘The Uninvited’

There is a city that through time shall lie
in a fixed darkness of the earth and sky,
and many dwell therein this very hour.
It is a city without seed or flower,
estranged from every bird and butterfly.

Who walked these streets of night? I know them well.
Those who come out of life's sequestered places:
the lonely, the unloved, the weak and shy,
the broken-winged who piteously would fly,
the poor who still have starlight in their faces.

They are the outcast ones, the last, the least,
whom earth has not invited to her feast,
and who, were they invited in the end,
finding their wedding clothes too frayed to mend,
would not attend.    –Jessica Powers[Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit OCD](1935)

How easy to walk by without a glance on the busy streets filled all day, all night with those whose clothes are “too frayed to mend”...

                                 Jesus asks us: "Did you 'see' Me as I passed by you?"