Category: catholic

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The Sacrament of Penance

Michael McFarland Campbell

Monday in the Eighteenth Week after Pentecost

Confession, the sacramental act of penance, does not only re-orientate ourselves, but also the whole community.

Penance is a disposition of the soul, an interior attitude, intimately connected with Christianity. Christ in his first sermon said,

Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.

St Matthew 4.17

Repentance is a change of outlook, fresh orientation of thought, combat and deed. It means putting off the old Adam, with his purely human values and appreciations, and a putting-on of Christ with his values, his ambitions.

Penance is not an affair of any given moment, of any one day; it is an attitude to be maintained all through life. The weekly confession imposed by their rule on all religious is an act of penance, raised to the rank of a sacrament. Each one is a new orientation towards God, a return to the rod that leads to heaven.

As Christ on the eve of his Passion gave us the Blessed Eucharist, so on the day of his resurrection he gave us the sacrament of penance. The gift of his mercy followed the gift of his love. Continue reading “The Sacrament of Penance”

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thy sins are forgiven

Michael McFarland Campbell

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

James J. Tissot 1836-1902, The Palsied Man Let Down Through the Roof, Brooklyn Museum

Lord, in today’s Gospel, what power you manifest! If you heal the body, you first, by a greater miracle, heal the soul. You begin by what for us is the most important: peace of mind.

Our hearts desire peace and happiness, which none but you can give. Purify our souls of sin and the tendency to sin — the two great obstacles to interior peace. Help us to be faithful to your commandments and to our vows, that so we may attain eternal glory.

Jesus is once again in Capharnaum, his own city. As soon as his arrival is known, the sick begin to throng around him. The house is already full, when men appear, carrying another stretcher. Impossible to enter the house, but the bearers were determined, by one means or another, to bring their palsied friend to Jesus‘ feet. They climb on the roof — the house was a low one — carrying the sick man with them, and let him down, just at the Master’s feet.

The sick man looks trustfully at the Saviour; the onlookers stand breathless with suspense. What will happen now? Then Jesus breaks the silence, looking tenderly on the sufferer:

Son, take courage, thy sins are forgiven.

But some of the Scribes say to themselves,

He is talking blasphemously, God alone can forgive sins.

Jesus reads in their hearts as in an open book, and answers their unspoken thought:

Tell me, which command is more lightly given, to say to a man, Thy sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise up and walk?

He spoke to the sick man:

Rise up, take thy bed with thee, and go home.

They see the miracle; before their eyes the palsied man rises and walks; impossible to question the power of the divine Healer of soul and body.

(cf. St Matthew 9, St Mark 2) Continue reading “thy sins are forgiven”

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Our Lady on Saturday

Michael McFarland Campbell

Devotion to Our Lady received a strong boost at the beginning of the 10th century with the monastic reform that gave shape to Mediæval Civilization. After that epoch it became the general custom to dedicate Saturday to Our Lady. Saint Hugh the Great, ordered that in the abbeys and monasteries of his Order the Office should be sung and a Mass celebrated in honor of Mary Most Holy on Saturdays. A special Mass was composed in her honor for those occasions. To the regular Divine Office, Pope Urban Ⅱ added the Little Office of Our Lady to be sung on … Continue reading Our Lady on Saturday

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‘six hundred of the men who got sick and died were young and fellow Catholics’

Michael McFarland Campbell

I didn’t think that I would be posting quite as quickly after the last post – but reading what I have just read really makes me want to make sure others get to read what Fr Bernard Lynch said at a rally in London today. As someone living with HIV, Fr Lynch’s words somewhat grabbed hold of me. Fortunately, we can now live with HIV – it is no longer the death sentence it once was. Here is a wordle followed by the full text… Dear Holy Father, Welcome to the United Kingdom. I am one of your fellow priests … Continue reading ‘six hundred of the men who got sick and died were young and fellow Catholics’

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lead, kindly light… Pope Benedict XVI

Michael McFarland Campbell

Sadly, due to illness, I was unable to use the ticket that I had been granted to attend the Vigil in Hyde Park, but thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to lie, sit, and kneel at a friend’s house in East Belfast to watch. Afterwards, he remarked that what the Holy Father said was not that far away from what could be said in a Christadelphian exhortation. If this is how close we are together, then there really is hope for Christian unity. The text of the homily given by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to … Continue reading lead, kindly light… Pope Benedict XVI

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We were made to receive love… also to give love. – Pope Benedict XVI

Michael McFarland Campbell

The words of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the young people outside The Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, Westminster, today. Thank you for your warm welcome! “Heart speaks unto heart” – cor ad cor loquitur – as you know, I chose these words so dear to Cardinal Newman as the theme of my visit. In these few moments that we are together, I wish to speak to you from my own heart, and I ask you to open your hearts to what I have to say. I ask each of you, first and foremost, to look into your … Continue reading We were made to receive love… also to give love. – Pope Benedict XVI

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we are forcibly reminded that what we share, in Christ, is greater than what continues to divide us – Pope Benedict XVI

Michael McFarland Campbell
The address given by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, the Sovereign Pontiff, in the Abbey and Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster (formerly Westminster Cathedral 1540-1550)
St Edward the Confessor, pray for us.

Dear friends in Christ,

I thank the Lord for this opportunity to join you, the representatives of the Christian confessions present in Great Britain, in this magnificent Abbey Church dedicated to Saint Peter, whose architecture and history speak so eloquently of our common heritage of faith. Here we cannot help but be reminded of how greatly the Christian faith shaped the unity and culture of Europe and the heart and spirit of the English people. Here too, we are forcibly reminded that what we share, in Christ, is greater than what continues to divide us.

I am grateful to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury for his kind greeting, and to the Dean and Chapter of this venerable Abbey for their cordial welcome. I thank the Lord for allowing me, as the Successor of Saint Peter in the See of Rome, to make this pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Edward the Confessor. Edward, King of England, remains a model of Christian witness and an example of that true grandeur to which the Lord summons his disciples in the Scriptures we have just heard: the grandeur of a humility and obedience grounded in Christ’s own example (cf. Phil 2:6-8), the grandeur of a fidelity which does not hesitate to embrace the mystery of the Cross out of undying love for the divine Master and unfailing hope in his promises (cf. Mk 10:43-44).

This year, as we know, marks the hundredth anniversary of the modern ecumenical movement, which began with the Edinburgh Conference’s appeal for Christian unity as the prerequisite for a credible and convincing witness to the Gospel in our time. In commemorating this anniversary, we must give thanks for the remarkable progress made towards this noble goal through the efforts of committed Christians of every denomination. At the same time, however, we remain conscious of how much yet remains to be done. In a world marked by growing interdependence and solidarity, we are challenged to proclaim with renewed conviction the reality of our reconciliation and liberation in Christ, and to propose the truth of the Gospel as the key to an authentic and integral human development. In a society which has become increasingly indifferent or even hostile to the Christian message, we are all the more compelled to give a joyful and convincing account of the hope that is within us (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), and to present the Risen Lord as the response to the deepest questions and spiritual aspirations of the men and women of our time. Continue reading “we are forcibly reminded that what we share, in Christ, is greater than what continues to divide us – Pope Benedict XVI”

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Religion, in other words, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation. – Pope Benedict ⅩⅥ

Michael McFarland Campbell

The text of the speech by His Holiness Pope Benedict ⅩⅥ, the Sovereign Pontiff, in Westminster Hall: Mr Speaker, Thank you for your words of welcome on behalf of this distinguished gathering. As I address you, I am conscious of the privilege afforded me to speak to the British people and their representatives in Westminster Hall, a building of unique significance in the civil and political history of the people of these islands. Allow me also to express my esteem for the Parliament which has existed on this site for centuries and which has had such a profound influence on the development of participative government among the … Continue reading Religion, in other words, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation. – Pope Benedict ⅩⅥ

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the pope’s mission to uphold human dignity – letters at the guardian

Michael McFarland Campbell

The letter referred to earlier this week has been published by the Guardian. Hurrah.

We welcome His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the UK as both head of state of the Holy See and as leader of the world’s 1 billion Catholics and to the Catholic community of this country. We believe that his presence here comes at an urgent and pressing time, highlighting the trends in our country that serve only to denigrate human rights and human dignity. We support him wholeheartedly because in guarding the Deposit of Faith he: Continue reading “the pope’s mission to uphold human dignity – letters at the guardian”