Mother Elisabeth de Solms: Fr. Mark's prophetic encounter

My last post makes reference to the providential meeting that took place over 20years ago in the bookstore of the Abbey of Saint-Cecile of Solesmes. Yesterday I was led to revisit Fr. Mark's article in which he describes the incident. It is clear that although Mother Elisabeth was indeed a member of the St. Cecile Community, she was not the Abbess. However, on Fr Mark's explicit recommendation, her books are certainly a huge and relatively recent example of the riches contributed to the Church by Benedictine monastic scholars. Mother de Solms appears to have done for the Bible and the Fathers, what her great Benedictine predecessor, Prosper Gueranger, did for the Liturgy.

I wonder if the two works mentioned by Father have ever been translated into English. Now, that would be a job for someone wouldn't it?! Any 'Dom or Dame L. Shepherds' around?!

Returning to Fr Mark's article, here are the exact words of Mother's prophecy as regarded the man who is now our Holy Father:

"Read him. You will see. God will make of him a great gift to his Church."

It is that 'will make of him' which sent shivers down my spine when I first read Mother's prediction. The phrase chimed with a notion, upon which I have reflected almost everyday since the election of Pope Benedict. More accurately it is my near-conviction that ever since the conception of Joseph Ratzinger, Christ has been preparing him to become His Vicar on earth at this particular point in human history.
It was a long training based on an astonishing array of God-given talents, but also rooted in a profoundly Catholic home and upbringing. More than this and during it, as Father Mark points out:

"In Pope Benedict XVI God has given the Church a shepherd who has contemplated the pierced Heart of the Crucified and already written of it....." (as early as 1986 in the case of 'Behold the Pierced One'. Was that the book which alerted Mother Elisabeth?)

Father continues: "Cardinal Ratzinger's writings on the Sacred Heart are warm and luminous. Fire and light are characteristic of a theology forged in experience.....

"The true theologian at once warms the heart and illumines the mind................

"Recall the words of Jesus concerning John the Baptist: 'He was a burning and shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light (Jn 5:35). In our...Holy Father, God has given the Church a 'burning and shining lamp' Those alredy familiar with his writings and liturgical preaching know what I mean."

This motif of Pope Benedict as a precious gift whose accession to the Throne of Peter is proof of Divine intent, is frequently found in writings and speeches about his person and Pontificate. There seems to be a growing awarenesss of just how precious he is, and because of his age and previous health problems we can be anxious that his time with us will be all too short. In this, as in everything else, we must try to follow our Holy Father's own example, particularly those of us who are in the latter part of life expectancy. He is in profound peace and serenity which shows in his every word and deed, and in his very mien. The Source is clear as I have written elsewhere. Here, I share 3 images that came from kto during the Eucharistic Adoration in Lourdes last month. (Unfortunatly they are not in the edited video version.)The camera was on the Pope's face as he knelt in contemplation. It then moved to Our Lord in the Monstrance but Benedict's face was still there superimposed on the Host, and then gradually the face of His Holiness faded into the camera image of the Host, as if he was being absorbed into the Heart of Jesus. An inspired televisual metaphor. Yes, I believe Pope Benedict has offered himself completely to Christ his Lord, the Master of the future, and has been accepted.

None of this prevents us from praying for the Holy Father. The stroke he suffered in the early 1990s is supposed to have weakened his heart and his vision. There seems little physical, and certainly no metaphorical sign of it. Lord, may this long be the case.

(With my deepest gratitude to Mother Elisabeth de Solms and Father Mark Kirby)

In Christo pro Papa

J