I go to a group called Cor ad Cor where we study Newman’s texts once a month. We meet at Littlemore (commonly called “The College” or “Newman’s Littlemore” - 20 minutes from the Oxford city centre) where Newman was received into the Catholic Church by Blessed Dominic Barberi, C.P. He was dedicated to writing numerous books and articles there in his last years as an Anglican. I was very impressed with the stand-up desk on which Newman worked for 16 hours a day standing and writing with his quail pen.

Anyhow, I just remembered to share one article that I first saw months ago. Newman left me with many thoughts when I first read it. It’s from his book Meditations and Devotions.

A Short Road to Perfection

September 27, 1856

It is the saying of holy men that, if we wish to be perfect, we have nothing more to do than to perform the ordinary duties of the day well. A short road to perfection—short, not because easy, but because pertinent and intelligible. There are no short ways to perfection, but there are sure ones.

I think this is an instruction which may be of great practical use to persons like ourselves. It is easy to have vague ideas what perfection is, which serve well enough to talk about, when we do not intend to aim at it; but as soon as a person really desires and sets about seeking it himself, he is dissatisfied with anything but what is tangible and clear, and constitutes some sort of direction towards the practice of it.

We must bear in mind what is meant by perfection. It does not mean any extraordinary service, anything out of the way, or especially heroic—not all have the opportunity of heroic acts, of sufferings—but it means what the word perfection ordinarily means. By perfect we mean that which has no flaw in it, that which is complete, that which is consistent, that which is sound—we mean the opposite to imperfect. As we know well what imperfection in religious service means, we know by the contrast what is meant by perfection.

He, then, is perfect who does the work of the day perfectly, and we need not go beyond this to seek for perfection. You need not go out of the round of the day.

I insist on this because I think it will simplify our views, and fix our exertions on a definite aim. If you ask me what you are to do in order to be perfect, I say, first—Do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising; give your first thoughts to God; make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament; say the Angelus devoutly; eat and drink to God’s glory; say the Rosary well; be recollected; keep out bad thoughts; make your evening meditation well; examine yourself daily; go to bed in good time, and you are already perfect.

“With Pope’s backing, Cardinal Arinze launches angry attack on ‘banal’ modern Catholic music”, the Catholic Herald reads.

I was indeed very happy that the Vatican is now ordering to restore Gregorian chant to Catholic worship after “40 years of complaints from the faithful about the poverty of liturgical music and shockingly low standards of performance.” How many of us have been disappointed when we found the musical incompetence in churches? In fact, I believe that many Catholics have entirely forgotten the chants, the true Church music, but Catholic commentators think that the move is now “inevitable after Cardinal Francis Arinze, Perfect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, fiercely criticised the current state of Catholic music.” He criticised the “savage creativity” of modern composers: “we cannnot leave sacred music in the hands of a savage creativity, uncontrolled, banal, secularised“!

Since Pope Benedict XVI himself an accomplished pianist and an expert on sacred music, is a keen supporter of musical reform in the Church. Indeed a good news: “the Pontiff has repeatedly expressed his wish to bring back dignity to the Catholic liturgy following many years of unpopoular and unsingable “folk hymns” (I entirely agree with the Pope. It has been a challenge for me to produce those hymns rightly!).

But the hero is this man, Mgr Valentino Miserachs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, who has been attacking on Catholic music since the Council. He lamented, “The almost outright ban on Latin adn Gregorian chant seen over the past 40 years is incomprehensible. Why should such an amputation take place, and so carelessly?”, and he continues, “Gregorian chant sung by the assembly not only can be restored: it must be restored.”

What Mgr Miserachs Grau says thoroughly excites me when he argued: “We have almost forced them [Catholics] to forget the Gregorian melodies that they knew, instead of explanding and deepening their knowledge. And instead, we have stuffed them full of banalities. It’s time to break through the inertia. The shining example must come from the cathedral churches, the major churches, the moansteris, the convents, the seminaries, and the houses of religious formation. And so the humble parishes, too, will end up being ‘contaminated’ by the supreme beauty of the chant of the Church.” And he finally finishes his comments by saying, “And the persuasive power of Gregorian chant will reverberate, and will consilidate the people in the true sense of Catholicism.”

I have just bought and sent the most beautiful Gregorian chant CDs (with the Latin texts inside) to some of my friends as Christmas gifts. These CDs are sung by the Beneditine nuns who are keeping their rigorously traditional religious life at St Cecilia’s Abbey on the Isle of Wight in England where I had a retreat this past summer. If you are interested in buying them, please let me know. Their voice is out of the world.

Lucia Santos (age 10, pictured in the middle) and her two cousins: Francisco (age 9) and Jacinta Marto (age 7) holding their rosaries. Fatima, Portugual 1917 A.D.

No wonder why our Lady appeared to them in Fatima, huh?

A beautiful (though SV) website here. They have an account of the apparitions from 1957, with imprimatur, about the apparitions.

His Grace, the Archbishop of Birmingham, England, Vincent Nichols, has spent the past couple days visiting Oxford. Much like the Holy Father’s secretary, His Grace is a favorite among the fairer sex: “He is the Brad Pitt of the hierarchy with looks, charm and a Hollywood smile” said one recent news article. He makes me flustered also, but in a different way. He confirmed me at the Oxford Oratory two summers ago and gave me some memorable advice and in little conversations that day. He used to be regarded as a “liberal”, but he is now taking some things in the direction of tradition. During his tenure, he has returned the Tridentine Mass to Oxford, so that it is now not too difficult to go to the Traditional Latin Mass in Oxfordshire. This is really a big improvement as there used to be, when I first came here, no Tridentine Missae whatsoever in Oxford (except for the SSPX up in town). Now he appears as one obvious successor at Westminster and many people are openly talking about this possibility. He celebrated a beautiful sung Mass this morning at Blackfriars, the Dominican study house in Oxford, and the church was packed, even though the Mass was for a Colloquium of the Society of Saint Catherine of Siena. People follow and support him and enjoy being with him.

I think, for that reason, it’s great that we have his support for the more traditional devotions of the Church and for vocations to the priesthood. I especially like his comments on priesthood: “It’s a mistake to think that our priestly identity is something we put on, like a collar. It isn’t. Rather it’s something already written within us. It is who we are ‘from my mother’s womb’. Priestly identity is who we are, at the deepest level. It is both self-discovery and self-fulfilment.” Archbishop Nichols has been particularly emphasizing that “a renewed focus on the Blessed Sacrament” is most important, saying that those parishes with flourishing vocations have always had continual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He has concerns, however, that the young men who seek to pursue the priestly vocation are not supported by society or by their families. He continues, “I don’t see mothers promoting vocations in the same way. These young men are coming from a context of much less certainty. . mothers no longer want their sons to be priests.”

While other dioceses in England seem to be bending over backwards to encourage lay participation in the Church, Archbishop Nichols has been warmly welcomed by more traditional folk because he appears to be heading in the direction of tradition rather than towards a compromise with the bad elements of recent years. I, too, have high hopes for him.

Extract from the unpublished writings of St. Alberto Hurtado, who was canonised today:

“You ask how I manage to put some balance into my life. This is a question I ask myself, as each day I am swallowed up more by my work - letters, telephone calls, articles, visits: the wearing routine of business - congresses, study sessions, conferences agreed to out of weakness, because I could not say no, or because I did not want to miss an opportunity to do good; bills to be paid, decisions to be made in the stress of unforeseen circumstances. Then there is some pressing apostolate, the urgency to arrive before materialism gains a complete victory. So often I feel I am on a rock, battered from all sides by rising waves. The only escape route is heavenwards. For an hour or a day, I let the waves beat upon the rock; I stop looking out to the horizon and only look upwards towards God. . .

“In God I feel a hope that is almost boundless. My worries disappear. I let them go, and I let myself go completely into his hands. . . I belong to Him, and He takes care of me and of myself. At long last my soul can surface once more tranquil and serene. Yesterday’s worries, the thousand and one preoccupations about ‘Thy kingdom come,’ and even the dreadful torment I felt just now fearing the triumph of his enemies. . . everything gives way to calmness in God, the rock against which all waves break in vain, God, the perfect radiance marred by no shadow, God the all-conquering victor, dwells within me. I can reach him fully as the highest aim of my love. My whole soul is within him. And then, sweetly and surely, it is as if all life’s trails, all the insecurities and uncertainties, had left me completely. I am bathed in light. He fills me with his strength. He loves me.”