Preview: Father Faber on the Neglect of Gratitude

On Monday, November 11, Veterans Day here in the USA, Armistice or Remembrance Day (the end of World War I in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month) in Europe and the Commonwealth, and the feast of Saint Martin of Tours, we'll continue our series on Father Frederick Faber's Little Book of Gratitude with chapter 3, "We Neglect Gratitude More Than Prayer". In All for Jesus (the 2000 Sophia Institute Press edition), much of this material is found on pages 164-174.

I'll be on the air at my usual time! about 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time/6:50 a.m. Central Time. Please listen live here or listen to the podcast later.

We pray, Faber concedes, because "our own interests drive us obviously to prayer; but it is love alone that leads us to thanksgiving."

Faber is concerned that when we pray for some need or blessing, we may not offer thanks and praise when our prayer has been granted--he cites the case of the ten lepers in Gospel of St. Luke (17:12-19)--because all ten were cleansed, but only one (the Samaritan, an outcast among the outcasts) returns to thank Jesus. And this stuns the "Sacred Heart of Jesus" Faber notes.

Citing St. Paul's letters to the Ephesians, Corinthians, etc., he emphasizes that our thanksgiving should be constant. He advises this pattern of praise and thanksgiving is a "preparation for our real life in heaven" and that "the Church on earth reflects the Church in heaven" as "the worship of the one is the echo of the worship of the other." 

That, of course, brings us to the Eucharist, "a sacrifice of thanksgiving" and Faber emphasizes that "The Spirit of the Eucharist must be found everywhere." As we practice gratitude during the Mass it will increase our love of God and the "neglect of it betokens how little love we have."

Faber even cautions us not to think so badly of fallen-away Catholics who don't receive the Sacraments, but examine our own lack of fervor in thanksgiving. He warns against lukewarmness in view of all the blessings we've received and encourages meditation, pondering "things as Mary did", to "treasure up God's mercies, and make much of them."

As Faber had been a Calvinist before his days as a Tractarian and a Catholic Oratorian priest, the last section in this chapter is important. He contrasts the dark side of God's severity and majesty and how we know little of it because "He has told us so little about it" with how much He has told us about His love:

When love is in question, He has been copious, explicit, minute. He explains, He repeats, He gives reasons, He argues, He persuades, He complains, He invites, He allures, He magnifies.

Of His rigor He drops but a word now and then . . . He startles only out of love . . . 

There is no end to the variety of the disclosures of His goodness, the inventions of His compassion, and the strangeness of His yearning over His creatures. . . .

Faber urges his readers not to dwell on "predestination and eternal punishment" but instead "ponder all those numberless signs of our heavenly Father's love" and be truly thankful.

Image Source (Public Domain): James Tissot's "The Healing of the Ten Lepers"

For November: Father Frederick Faber on "Holy Gratitude"

Anna Mitchell asked me to discuss and bring out highlights from a book published by Sophia Institute Press by Father Frederick Faber, The Little Book of Holy Gratitude, on the Son Rise Morning Show throughout November. We'll start our discussion with some biographical information about Father Faber on Monday, November 4. I'll be on the air at my usual time! about 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time/6:50 a.m. Central Time. 

Don't forget to "Fall Back" on Sunday as it applies in the USA and Canada!

Please listen live here or listen to the podcast later.

Father Frederick Faber was born and raised according to the religion of the Church of England; he was a convert and an Oratorian like Saint John Henry Newman. He and Newman, indeed, have much in common, although they did not always see eye-to-eye on certain matters, even as Catholics and Oratorians. Faber was born on June 28, 1814 and died on September 26, 1863 after suffering from Bright's disease. Like Newman, Faber had Huguenot ancestors and for a time he held Calvinist views of salvation; like Newman, Faber endured some setbacks in his academic career at Oxford, not quite achieving his goals. Like Newman, he was ordained a deacon and then a minister in the Church of England; like Newman, when he travelled on the Continent, he was at first disturbed by Catholic piety and worship.

Then he began to follow Newman, inspired by the Parochial and Plain Sermons, and became a follower of the Tractarian Movement. He vacationed in the Lake District, wrote poetry, and was befriended by William Wordsworth!

This 2013 tribute Faber posted on the New Liturgical Movement website describes what happened next:

In 1843 Faber was inducted into the University College living of Elton in Huntingdonshire. During the years 1839-43 he made two continental tours, and his letters give striking poetic descriptions of the scenes he visited; they glow with enthusiasm for Catholic rites and devotion. [Notice the change in attitude!] In Rome he was received in audience by Pope Gregory XVI and acquired a devotion to St Philip Neri [!], whose life he translated at Elton, where he turned his household servants into a brotherhood. He established the practice of confessions, preached Catholic doctrine, and wrote the life of St Wilfrid, controversially openly advocating the claims and supremacy of Rome. He was greatly loved by his people. It was only Newman’s influence that prevented him from entering the Church.

But on 9 October 1845, Newman was received into the Church at Littlemore. In November, with Francis Knox and ten other friends and servants, Faber was received into the Church at Northampton by Bishop William Wareing, vicar apostolic of the eastern district. They settled in Birmingham, where they informally organized themselves as a religious community, calling themselves the Brothers of the Will of God, or ‘Wilfridians’ (as they were mischievously called by St [Blessed] Dominic Barberi) from St Wilfrid, their patron, at Cotton Hall, near Cheadle, Staffordshire, the gift of the Earl of Shrewsbury.

Given that devotion to Saint Philip Neri, it makes sense that once Newman brought the Oratory to England, Faber and his followers were interested. Newman established the London (Brompton) Oratory (the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) in 1849, and Faber was named its Provost. The Brompton Oratory posts these comments about Father Faber:

Faber the preacher, Faber the hymn-writer, Faber the spiritual author, must all give way to Faber the founder and first Provost of the London Oratory. Father Faber became an influential figure in the London of his day. His enthusiastic and, some might say, faintly flamboyant personality might lend itself to unsympathetic treatment by those who do not understand him, and by those who do not read his books. In the words of his early biographer, Fr. John Bowden [Father Henry Sebastian Bowden's brother], Faber's life was "from first to last religious". His character was not something fixed or static. His letters display a growing maturity of outlook. In this he may be fairly said to exemplify the wise insight of Newman himself who said that to be human is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often. Faber described Newman as "the greatest scholar since St. Augustine" and referred to Newman as the one "who taught me all the good I know". 

Father Faber never enjoyed very good health and sometimes travelled to warmer climates (Malta or Italy) at his doctor's advice; he died at the rather young age of 49. He wrote many books of devotion and like Newman and other Oratorians (for example Edward Caswall), wrote and translated hymns for congregational singing at Mass and Vespers, so commonly celebrated on Sundays with Benediction at the Oratory. Among his famous hymns are "Faith of Our Fathers" (with its tribute to the Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation), "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy", "Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All"--

Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All,

How can I love thee as I ought?

And how revere this wondrous gift,

So far surpassing hope or thought?

Sweet Sacrament, we thee adore;

Oh, make us love thee more and more.

Oh, make us love thee more and more.

Had I but Mary's sinless heart

To love thee with, my dearest King,

Oh, with what bursts of fervent praise

Thy goodness, Jesus, would I sing.

Sweet Sacrament, we thee adore;

Oh, make us love thee more and more.

Oh, make us love thee more and more.

Thy Body, Soul, and Godhead, all,

O mystery of love divine.

I cannot compass all I have,

For all thou hast and art are mine.

Sweet Sacrament, we thee adore;

Oh, make us love thee more and more.

Oh, make us love thee more and more.

--and several hymns praising the Mother of God and St. Joseph.

The chapters in The Little Book of Holy Gratitude are drawn from chapter seven "Offer Thanks to God", of one of Father Faber's most popular books, All for Jesus: The Easy Way of Divine Love. He also translated St. Louis de Montfort's famous True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and wrote several other devotional works.

In just the two pages of one chapter, "Thankful Souls Are Happy" from the Sophia edition, Father Faber weaves a tapestry of virtue for us to examine. 

He begins with the models of the virtue of gratitude: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the patriarch Jacob, and King David. They remembered the blessings they'd received, meditated upon them, and, in the case of David, sang "of old mercies and [made] much of them" in the Psalms.

He also highlights the connection between our awareness of God's mercy in forgiving our sins and our thanksgiving: "a very grateful man is also a deeply penitent man".

Faber outlines the many virtues of gratitude to God and how they make us happy, because as we practice gratitude we begin to look for reasons to be grateful, even when they're not immediately apparent!, like seeing some slight delay as providential because we therefore weren't on the site of an accident when it happened, or we were blessed to see a friend we wouldn't have if we'd arrived earlier at our destination! 

The virtues expressed in holy gratitude: "promptitude of obedience, heroic effort, joyful perseverance". Holy Gratitude is "loyalty to God".

"Happy the man whose life is one long Te Deum"! he writes--constantly praising and thanking God with the Angels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, the Apostles, the Prophets, and the Martyrs.

Faber says when we show this gratitude and rejoice in God's blessings, it's apostolic (evangelistic) because "it wins souls", and it "preaches God unconsciously".

"Joy is not a solitary thing!". he proclaims, as we share it.

There's much in these pages to meditation upon and discuss.

Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

Thinking of and thankful for the memories of my family home and Thanksgivings past. It has been seven years since the last Thanksgiving with my father. Tomorrow is my parents' wedding anniversary. It may be a trite saying, but we must always be thankful for all we have because we never know when we will lose it.

It is something to have wept as we have wept, 

It is something to have done as we have done, 

It is something to have watched when all men slept, 

And seen the stars which never see the sun.

It is something to have smelt the mystic rose, 

Although it break and leave the thorny rods, 

It is something to have hungered once as those 

Must hunger who have ate the bread of gods.

To have seen you and your unforgotten face, 

Brave as a blast of trumpets for the fray, 

Pure as white lilies in a watery space, 

It were something, though you went from me today.

To have known the things that from the weak are furled, 

Perilous ancient passions, strange and high; 

It is something to be wiser than the world, 

It is something to be older than the sky.

In a time of sceptic moths and cynic rusts, 

And fattened lives that of their sweetness tire 

In a world of flying loves and fading lusts, 

It is something to be sure of a desire.

Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard; 

Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen: 

Let the thunder break on man and beast and bird 

And the lightning. It is something to have been.

~G.K. Chesterton ("The Great Minimum")

Mother Mary Angelica, RIP

Mother Angelica, foundress of the Eternal Word Television Network, of two religious orders, and EWTN radio, died Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. My husband and I were running an errand when we heard the news. After praying for her departed soul, we said almost at the same time that she and her network had, apart from our crucial formation during college at St. Paul's Parish-Newman Center, the greatest impact on our life as Catholics. Because of EWTN, we benefited from so many resources: the programming, the books, the people, the outlook on the traditional devotion and piety--which has certainly informed our love for the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite Mass. We first listened to her radio programming on shortwave radio! Now we have access to EWTN on-line, on broadcast radio, on cable, on Roku, in print (The National Catholic Register), etc, etc.

Our debt to her is great.

One more thing: it was being on EWTN, both the television network and the radio programming, that gave real support to my work on the English Reformation. The day EWTN broadcast the Bookmark I had taped with Doug Keck in January of 2010 was Sunday, September 19, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI had just beatified John Henry Newman. The first printing of Supremacy and Survival sold out in November.

Thank you, Mother Angelica! I am certain that there are dozens and dozens of Catholic writers who would, could, and should express the same gratitude--some on a much greater scale!

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord and let light perpetual shine upon her. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Santo Subito!

Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789

Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789:

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other trangressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go. Washington

Remember that Go. Washington forbade his soldiers from celebrating the Fifth of November in 1775:

As the Commander in Chief has been apprized of a design form’d for the observance of that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the Effigy of the pope – He cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be Officers and Soldiers in this army so void of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this Juncture; at a Time when we are solliciting, and have really obtain’d, the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as Brethren embarked in the same Cause. The defence of the general Liberty of America: At such a juncture, and in such Circumstances, to be insulting their Religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered or excused; indeed instead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address public thanks to these our Brethren, as to them we are so much indebted for every late happy Success over the common Enemy in Canada.

Happy Thanksgiving!

At Mass, we often sing Lutheran Chorales translated by Catherine Winkworth. Here is one by Martin Rinkart, written in the seventeenth century. Felix Mendelssohn used it in his Second Symphony, the Lobgesang or Hymn of Praise. Here is a link to a performance.

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

A Prayer for Thanksgiving

The first bishop in the United States of America (Baltimore, Maryland), later Archbishop, John Carroll wrote this prayer November 10, 1791, to be recited in parishes throughout his diocese.

We pray, Thee O Almighty and Eternal God! Who through Jesus Christ hast revealed Thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of Thy mercy, that Thy Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue with unchanging faith in the confession of Thy Name.

We pray Thee, who alone art good and holy, to endow with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal, and sanctity of life, our chief bishop, Pope N., the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the government of his Church; our own bishop, N., all other bishops, prelates, and pastors of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise amongst us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct Thy people into the ways of salvation.

We pray Thee O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.

We pray for his excellency, the governor of this state, for the members of the assembly, for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled, by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability.

We recommend likewise, to Thy unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal.

Finally, we pray to Thee, O Lord of mercy, to remember the souls of Thy servants departed who are gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of peace; the souls of our parents, relatives, and friends; of those who, when living, were members of this congregation, and particularly of such as are lately deceased; of all benefactors who, by their donations or legacies to this Church, witnessed their zeal for the decency of divine worship and proved their claim to our grateful and charitable remembrance. To these, O Lord, and to all that rest in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and everlasting peace, through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. Amen.

(photo credit: wikipedia)

Happy Thanksgiving!

An American Thanksgiving in London

The Wall Street Journal ran this story yesterday by Thomas Fleming, about American service men in England celebrating Thanksgiving in 1942. He focuses on a special service at Westminster Abbey:

The most dramatic ceremony was in London's Westminster Abbey, where English kings and queens have been crowned for centuries. No British government had ever permitted any ritual on its altar except the prescribed devotions of the Church of England. But on Nov. 26, 1942, they made an exception for their American cousins.

No orders were issued to guarantee a large audience. There was only a brief announcement in the newspapers. But when the Abbey's doors opened, 3,000 uniformed men and women poured down the aisles. In 10 minutes there was not a single empty seat and crowds were standing in the side aisles. One reporter said there was a veritable "hedge of khaki" around the tomb of Britain's unknown soldier of World War I.

Cpl. Heinz Arnold of Patchogue, N.Y., played "Onward Christian Soldiers" on the mighty coronation organ. With stately strides, Sgt. Francis Bohannan of Philadelphia advanced up the center aisle carrying a huge American flag. Behind him came three chaplains, the dean of the Abbey, and a Who's Who of top American admirals, generals and diplomats. On the high altar, other soldiers draped an even larger American flag.

Their faces "plainly reflected what lay in their heart," one reporter noted, as the visitors sang "America the Beautiful" and "Lead On O King Eternal." The U.S. ambassador to Britain, John G. Winant, read a brief message from President Franklin D. Roosevelt: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. Across the uncertain ways of space and time our hearts echo those words." The Dean of Westminster and one of the Abbey's chaplains also spoke. "God has dealt mercifully and bountifully with us," the chaplain said. "True, we have had our difficulties . . . but all of these trials have made us stronger to do the great tasks which have fallen to us."

Throughout Britain, the first global Thanksgiving gave men and women from the New World and the Old World a much-needed feeling of spiritual solidarity. Let us hope that today's overseas service men and women can have a similar impact on a troubled and divided world. Happy Thanksgiving—and our nation's sincerest thanks— to them all, wherever they may be deployed.

Amen to that!