Card. Raymond L. Burke: “Homilia In Festo Sanctæ Theresiæ a Jesu, Virginis”, Abb. Strahov, 15 oct. 2016

Rilanciamo volentieri l’Omelia – in inglese – tenuta dal card. Burke nella festa di S. Teresa d’Avila, presso l’abbazia premostratense di Strahov, in Praga, dove sono conservate le spoglie di San Norberto, fondatore dell’ordine.

FEAST OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA, VIRGIN

BASILICA OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

PREMONSTRATENSIAN ABBEY OF STRAHOV

PRAGUE

15 OCTOBER 2016

2 Cor 10, 17-18; 11, 1-2

Mt 25, 1-13

HOMILY

Praised be Jesus Christ! 

Now and for ever.

It brings me profound joy to offer the Pontifical Mass in this most beautiful church dedicated to Our Savior and to His Immaculate Mother under her title of the Assumption. I am grateful to almighty God Who has granted me to make pilgrimage to the historic Premonstratensian Abbey of Strahov and to pray at the tomb of Saint Norbert. I thank Father Abbot and all of the canons of the Abbey for their most warm hospitality, and I thank all who have prepared so well the celebration of the Pontifical Mass. In a particular way, I thank the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest for providing the assistance for the Pontifical Mass, even as I am deeply grateful for the presence of Monsignor Gilles Wach, the Founder of the Institute. With deepest esteem and gratitude, I acknowledge the presence of Knights and Dames of the Grand Priory of Bohemia of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, of which I am privileged to be the Cardinal Patron. I take the occasion to express once again my gratitude to Lucie Cekotova and to all who have worked with her to organize my visit to your beloved homeland, the Czech Republic. In deepest gratitude, I offer the Holy Mass for the intentions of the Church in the Czech Republic and the intentions of Strahov Abbey.

Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa of Avila, Virgin and Doctor of the Church. We recall the heroic sanctity of her life and its many fruits, including the reform of the Carmelite Order, which she carried out together with Saint John of the Cross, and her spiritual writings which continue to inspire and strengthen many souls to seek more perfect union with God. The life and death of Saint Teresa open our eyes to contemplate the mystery of Christ’s love, which is daily at work in our souls. Dom Prosper Guéranger, commenting on today’s feast, extolled the great gift of her spiritual writings:

Having arrived at the mountain of God, she described the road by which she had come, without any pretension but to obey him who commanded her in the name of the Lord. With exquisite simplicity and unconsciousness of self, she related the works accomplished for her Spouse; made over to her daughters the lessons of her own experience; and described the many mansions of that castle of the human soul, in the centre of which, he that can reach it will find the holy Trinity residing as in an anticipated heaven. No more was needed: withdrawn from speculative abstractions and restored to its sublime simplicity, Christian mysticism again attracted every mind; light reawakened love; the virtues flourished in the Church; and the baneful effects of heresy and its pretended reform were counteracted.[1]

Christ called Saint Teresa to give herself totally – in every fiber of her being – to Him, in order that she might bring His light and love to her brothers and sisters. From His glorious pierced Heart, Christ poured forth the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit into the heart of Saint Teresa, so that, she, as His bride through religious profession, could be the effective sign and instrument of His pure and selfless love.
Reflecting upon her life in Christ, we come to understand the words of Saint Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians. Addressing the members of the Church at Corinth, who had come to life in Christ through Saint Paul’s sacred ministry, Saint Paul declares: “[F]or I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11, 2). The grace of the Holy Spirit, which came into the life of Saint Teresa of Avila and comes into our lives through the Apostolic ministry, espouses the Church as His Bride to Christ, her one and only Bridegroom. The jealousy of Saint Paul for the members of the Church is the jealousy of Christ Who does not want anyone who has become one with Him through faith and baptism to stray from Him and, thus, lose the gift of eternal salvation in Him.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins helps us to understand the mystery of Christ’s life at work in the life of Saint Teresa and in each of our lives, producing a rich harvest of holiness of life (cf Mt 15, 1-13). At the same time, it makes clear that Christ’s life in us depends upon our free response, our response of love to His immeasurable and ceaseless love of us in the Church. The wise virgins treasure, most of all, their consecration to the bridegroom and, therefore, they take care that their lamps always burn brightly to receive the bridegroom at his coming. So, too, we who belong totally to Christ, by the works of His love, keep ourselves ready to meet Christ at His Coming, both in the circumstances of our daily Christian life but also on the Last Day, when He will return in glory to restore all creation to the Father. Like the wise virgins, we know that there is nothing more important than to be vigilant, at all times, in waiting for Christ and in welcoming Him into our lives. Our Lord speaks to us at the conclusion of the Parable of the Virgins: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Mt 25, 13).
The foolish virgins grow careless about the gift of their bond with the bridegroom. His coming, therefore, takes them by surprise, and they are not ready to welcome him. So, too, we are tempted to lose the sense of wonder at the great mystery of God’s love which rescues us from the snares of Satan and fills us with divine love. In little and big ways, we are tempted to be inattentive to daily communion with Christ through prayer, devotion, participation in the Holy Eucharist, the daily examination of conscience and act of contrition, and the regular meeting with Christ in the Sacrament of Penance. Instead of giving our hearts totally to Christ, as we are called to do, we begin to live more and more for ourselves and for certain earthly goods and pleasures which, at any given moment, can distract us from the true source of our freedom and joy, Christ, our one and only Bridegroom.

Saint Teresa is a powerful example of the heroic virginal love of Christ, to which we are all called. From her first intimation of Christ’s call to the religious life, she responded with all her heart. No matter how much resistance she encountered on the way of following Christ in the religious life, especially in the reform of the Carmelite Order, whether it came from her family, from her fellow religious in the Order, or from the society in which she was living, Christ was always first in her life. In a most wonderful way, her joy in spending hours in prayer, especially before the Most Blessed Sacrament, was a sign of her wisdom and fidelity as a bride of her Eucharistic Lord. As a wise virgin, she, through prayer and the life of the Sacraments, kept an abundance of oil for the lamp of her daily Christian living, so that she was always ready to meet our Lord, at His coming.
May Saint Teresa of Jesus teach us to persevere in trust, as she did in the face of much opposition and many trials. May she assist us in accepting with joy our suffering with Christ, so that we may enjoy with Him the unending joy of His Resurrection. Referring to Saint Teresa’s motto, “To suffer or to die,”[2] Dom Prosper Guéranger, citing the great preacher Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, reminds us of the timeliness of the spiritual doctrine of Saint Teresa, embodied in her life and death:

If we are true Christians, we must desire to be ever with Jesus Christ. Now, where are we to find this loving Saviour of our souls? In what place may we embrace Him? He is found in two places: in His glory and in His sufferings; on His throne and on His cross. We must, then, in order to be with Him, either embrace Him on His throne, which death enables us to do; or else share in His cross, and this we do by suffering; hence we must either suffer or die, if we would never be separated from our Lord. Let us suffer then, O Christians; let us suffer what it pleases God to send us: afflictions, sicknesses, the miseries of poverty, injuries, calumnies; let us try to carry, with steadfast courage, that portion of His cross, with which He is pleased to honour us.[3]

With Saint Teresa, we are certain that, if only we give our hearts to Christ, our one and only Bridegroom, the evils we encounter in our personal lives and in society will be overcome by the immeasurable and enduring truth, goodness and beauty of Christ, which is made visible to us in the Sacred Liturgy, above all, in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. May Saint Teresa teach us to imitate her in fidelity to prayer and devotion, and to the life of the Sacraments, above all the Holy Eucharist and Penance, so that Christ may transform us and our world, in accord with His unceasing desire that all men be one with Him, that all men be saved for eternal life.

Let us now lift up our hearts, one with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus through His Eucharistic Sacrifice. Resting our hearts in His Most Sacred Heart, we will find the healing of our sins and the strength of divine love, in order to do God’s will in all things. Let us, with Mary Immaculate and Saint Teresa of Jesus, be confident that, from His Sacred Heart, there flows unceasingly and without measure the grace of the Holy Spirit, which overcomes sin in our lives and in the world, and prepares us and the world to welcome our Lord, at all times and at His Final Coming, with our lamps burning brightly.
Heart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts, have mercy on us.
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen assumed into heaven, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, Foster-Father of Jesus and true Husband of the Virgin Mary, pray for us.

Saint Norbert, pray for us.

Saint Teresa of Jesus, pray for us.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

+ Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE

NOTES

[1] “Arrivée donc à la montagne de Dieu, elle fit le relevé des étapes de la route qu’elle avait parcourue, sans autre prétention que d’obéir à qui lui commandait au nom du Seigneur ; d’une plume exquise de limpidité, d’abandon, elle raconta les œuvres accomplies pour l’Époux ; avec non moins de charmes, elle consigna pour ses filles les leçons de son expérience, décrivit les multiples demeures de ce château de l’âme humaine au centre duquel, pour qui sait l’y trouver, réside en un ciel anticipé la Trinité sainte. Il n’en fallait pas plus ; soustraite aux abstractions spéculatives, rendue à sa sublime simplicité, la Mystique chrétienne attirait de nouveau toute intelligence ; la lumière réveillait l’amour ; et les plus suaves parfums s’exhalaient de toutes parts au jardin de la sainte Église, assainissant la terre, refoulant les miasmes souls lesquels l’hérésie d’alors et sa réforme prétendue menaçaient d’étouffer le monde.” Prosper Guéranger, L’année liturgique, Le temps après la Pentecôte, Tome V, 12ème éd. (Tours: Maison Alfred Mame et Fils, 1925), p. 457. [Guéranger]. English translation: Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year, Time after Pentecost, Book V (Fitzwilliam, NH: Loreto Publications, 2000), pp. 396-397. [GuérangerEng].

[2] “Souffrir ou mourir!” Guéranger, p. 462. English translation : GuérangerEng, p. 401.

[3] “Si nous sommes de vrais chrétiens, nous devons désirer d’être toujours avec Jésus-Christ. Or, où le trouve-t-on, cet aimable Sauveur de nos âmes ? En quel lieu peut-on l’embrasser ? On ne le trouve qu’en ces deux lieux : dans sa gloire ou dans ses supplices, sur son trône ou bien sur sa croix. Nous devons donc, pour être avec lui, ou bien l’embrasser dans son trône, et c’est ce que nous donne la mort, ou bien nous unir à sa croix, et c’est ce que nous avons par les souffrances ; tellement qu’il faut souffrir ou mourir, afin de ne quitter jamais le Sauveur. Souffrons donc, souffrons, chrétiens, ce qu’il plaît à Dieu de nous envoyer : les afflictions et les maladies, les misères et la pauvreté, les injures et les calomnies ; tâchons de porter d’un courage ferme telle partie de sa croix dont il lui plaira de nous honorer.” Guéranger, pp. 468-469; GuérangerEng, pp. 406-407.

Fonte : New Liturgical Movement, Oct. 21, 2016. Per le foto: Člověk a víra.

“Antvérpiam accersítus, in ea urbe Tanchelíni nefáriam hæresim profligávit. Prophético spíritu et miráculis cláruit” (Lect. VI – II Noct.) - SANCTI NORBERTI, EPISCOPI MAGDEBURGENSIS ET CONFESSORIS, ORDINIS CANONICORUM REGULARIUM PRAEMONSTRATENSIUM FUNDATORIS

La festa di questo santo arcivescovo di Magdeburgo (1126-1134), fondatore dei canonici Premostratensi nel 1121, ed il cui culto fu riconosciuto nel 1582 da Gregorio XIII, entrò dapprima nel calendario, nel 1620-1621, sotto Urbano VIII, col rito semidoppio e, poi, sotto Clemente X, ricevé il rito doppio.

La vita di questo santo, che, sebbene avviato alla carriera ecclesiastica sin da giovanissimo, si dedicava ai piaceri ed alle mollezze di corte dell’imperatore Enrico V, fu segnata nel 1115 da un episodio che, da allora, lo convertì e lo fece dedicare completamente a Dio. Mentre era a cavallo sulla strada per Vreden, in Westfalia, durante un violento temporale in aperta campagna, un fulmine cadde al suo fianco. L’animale, spaventato dal fulmine, lo disarcionò ed egli rimase per un po’ disteso a terra in stato di incoscienza. Ripresa conoscenza le sue prime parole furono le stesse di Saulo sulla via di Damasco: «Che devo fare, Signore?» (At. 22, 10). Sentì dentro di sé una voce che gli diceva: «Sta’ lontano dal male e fa’ il bene; cerca la pace e perseguila» (Sal, 33, 15). Pensando al suo ambiguo comportamento sino ad allora, decise di cambiare vita. Rinunciò alla sua nobile carica e si ritirò a Xanten in solitudine ed con digiuni per meditare quale scelta compiere. Consigliato dall’abate Cenone fece un ritiro nell’abbazia di S. Benedetto di Seiberg, nei pressi di Colonia, preparandosi all’ordinazione sacerdotale, e nel dicembre del 1115 l’arcivescovo di Colonia, Federico, lo ordinò nello stesso giorno diacono e prete (procedura che violava il diritto canonico). Dopo altri quaranta giorni di ritiro tornò a Xanten deciso a condurre «una vita evangelica e di apostolato», ma sembra che il vigore delle sue esortazioni e quello che poteva sembrare un comportamento eccentrico per un uomo del suo rango gli abbiano procurato nemici tra gli altri canonici: uno di loro arrivò perfino a schiaffeggiarlo. Al concilio di Fritzlar del 1118 fu accusato davanti al legato papale di ipocrisia, di essere un innovatore, di predicare senza permesso o autorizzazione. Accompagnato da due discepoli, che si erano rifiutati di lasciarlo, si recò, a piedi scalzi, nella città di St-Gilles in Linguadoca dove si trovava in esilio papa Gelasio II. Ai piedi del pontefice confessò i propri misfatti e l’irregolarità della sua ordinazione dicendosi pronto ad accettare qualsiasi penitenza gli fosse inflitta. Il papa invece gli conferì il permesso di predicare il Vangelo dove avesse voluto.

Anni dopo, quando fu scelto come scelse arcivescovo di Magdeburgo, fece il suo ingresso in città a piedi e con abiti così poveri che il portinaio del palazzo episcopale si rifiutò di farlo entrare ordinandogli di andare a unirsi agli altri mendicanti. «È il nostro vescovo!» urlò la folla. «Non preoccuparti, caro fratello» disse Norberto al portinaio «tu giudichi con più verità di chi mi ha condotto qui.»

La Sede apostolica deve a san Norberto una gratitudine particolare, perché, durante lo scisma dell’antipapa Anacleto II, lavorò attivamente, con san Bernardo ed il devoto abate di Farfa, Adinolfo, a riportare i popoli all’obbedienza verso Innocenzo II. Quando, difatti, nei primi giorni di maggio 1133, gli eserciti del re Lotario III (detto di Supplimburgo) riportarono a Roma il Pontefice esiliato, troviamo con lui, come l’anima stessa di questa spedizione, gli abati di Cîteaux e di Farfa ed il santo arcivescovo di Magdeburgo, che, a quell’epoca, ricopriva anche le funzioni di cancelliere reale.

Per riconoscenza dei suoi eminenti servizi resi al papato Norberto fu insignito del pallium e costituito primate di tutta la Germania, e al suo ritorno l’imperatore insistette per farlo suo cancelliere; ma la salute del vescovo declinava, dopo vent’anni dalla sua ordinazione presbiterale spesi in un servizio appassionato.

Quella che aveva condotto a favore del papato fu l’ultima fatica del Santo, poiché, consumato dalle sue dure penitenze e dalle sue fatiche, morì il 6 giugno 1134.

Dopo la sua morte il suo corpo fu portato a turno in tutte le chiese di Magdeburgo e poi sepolto nella chiesa del suo ordine di quella città. Quando Magdeburgo divenne luterana, le reliquie furono traslate nel 1627 dall’imperatore Ferdinando II nell’abbazia premostratense di Strahow a Praga.

Una volta, nella Città eterna, una piccola chiesa eretta dai Premostratensi sul Viminale ricordava la venuta del Santo a Roma. Colpita poi dalla confisca, oggi è distrutta (Cfr. Mariano Armellini, Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX, Tipografia Vaticana, Roma 1891², p. 817).

La messa è del Comune dei Confessori Pontifici; solo la prima colletta è propria.

La caratteristica della missione di Norberto fu la predicazione infiammata della parola di Dio. È là una missione tutta apostolica che, troppo spesso, non è apprezzata nel suo valore. La predicazione del verbo evangelico è, difatti, così necessaria che deve precedere l’amministrazione stessa dei Sacramenti, poiché nessuno può credere alla parola di Dio e salvarsi se alcun apostolo non predica.

Ma le anime si rigenerano soltanto nello Spirito Santo, e questo è perché il predicatore deve parlare, non secondo il suo spirito proprio, ma con quello di Dio. I santi Apostoli agirono così; avendo affidato ai diaconi il ministero esterno, si riservarono la preghiera e l’incessante predicazione della parola del Signore. Nos autem orationi et prædicationi verbi instantes erimus; Noi, però, ci dedicheremo interamente alla preghiera, ed alla predicazione della parola (At. 6, 4).

Gli Apostoli fecero della predicazione uno dei doveri più essenziali della vita episcopale, e san Luca dunque c’indicò le disposizioni nelle quali si trovavano per compiere uno sì grande ministero: Repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto, et cœperunt loqui; Essi furono tutti ripieni di Spirito Santo e cominciarono a parlare (At 2, 4).

F.H.J. Bekker, Visione di S. Norberto, 1900, Amsterdam

Alois Stoff, S. Norberto sconfigge l’eretico Tanchelino, 1892

Johannes Chrysostomos van der Sterre - Theodoor Galle, Ritratto di S. Norberto, 1622, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Petrus Clouwet-Franz Huybrechts, S. Norberto, 1639-70, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 

S. Norberto di Xanten con l’Eucaristia, trionfa su Satana e sull’errore, 1750 circa, stampa, Parigi

Cornelis de Vos, I cittadini di Anversa riportare S. Norberto l'Ostensorio e gli altri vasi sacri che aveva nascosto Tanchelino, 1630, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Anversa

Gerard Seghers, S. Norberto riceve le insegne dell'ordine premostratense dalla Vergine, XVII sec., Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Anversa 

Sir Pieter Paul Rubens, S. Norberto atterra l'errore di Tanchelino, XVII sec.

Marten Pepijn, S. Norberto adorante l’Eucaristia, 1637, Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp

Autore anonimo, S. Norberto, XVIII sec., Duisburg

Joseph Ignaz Appiani, S. Norberto trionfa sull'eretico Tanchelino nel 1124, 1750, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Monaco

Nikolaus Kloos, S. Norberto riceve il Sabato Santo 1115 dall’arcivescovo di Colonia il diaconato ed il presbiterato, 1770, Klostermuseum (museo del monastero),  Schussenried

Anonimo, S. Norberto, Daylesford Abbey, Philadelphia

Tomba di S. Norberto, Monastero di Strahov, Praga