Introduction
Born at Bolsward (The Netherlands) in 1881, Blessed Titus Brandsma joined the Carmelite Order as a young man. Ordained a priest in 1905, he earned a doctorate in philosophy in Rome. He then taught in various schools in Holland and was named professor of philosophy and of the history of mysticism in the Catholic University of Nijmegen, now Radboud University, where he also served as Rector Magnificus. He was noted for his constant availability to everyone. He was a professional journalist, and in 1935 he was appointed ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists. Both before and during the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands he fought, faithful to the Gospel, against the spread of Nazi ideology and for the freedom of Catholic education and of the Catholic press. For this he was arrested and sent to a succession of prisons and concentration camps where he brought comfort and peace to his fellow prisoners and did good even to his tormentors; in 1942, after much suffering and humiliation, he was killed at Dachau. He was beatified by John Paul II on November 3, 1985.
Opening prayer
O Jesus, when I gaze on You
Once more alive, that I love You
And that your heart loves me too
Moreover as your special friend.
Although that calls me to suffer more
Oh, for me all suffering is good,
For in this way I resemble You
And this is the way to Your Kingdom.
I am blissful in my suffering
For I know it no more as sorrow
But the most ultimate elected lot
That unites me with You, o God.
O, just leave me here silently alone,
The chill and cold around me
And let no people be with me
Here alone I grow not weary.
For Thou, O Jesus, art with me
I have never been so close to You.
Stay with me, with me, Jesus sweet,
Your presence makes all things good for me.
(From the poem, O Jesus, written by Titus Brandsma and translated by Susan Verkerk-Wheatley and Anne-Marie Bos)
From the writings of Blessed Titus Brandsma
The mysticism of the Passion
Introduction to Het lijden vergoddelijkt
Jesus called himself the head of the Mystical Body, of which we are the members. He is the vine, we are the branches. He laid himself in the winepress and himself trod it. He handed us the wine so that, drinking it, we might lead his life, might share his suffering. Whoever wishes to do my will, let him daily take up his cross. Whoever follows me has the light of life. I am the way, he said. I have given you an example, so that as I have done so you may do also. And when his disciples did not understand that his way would be a way of suffering, he explained this to them and said, “Should not the Christ so suffer, in order to enter his glory?”
Then the hearts of the disciples burned within them. God’s word had set them on fire. And when the Holy Spirit had descended on them to fan that divine fire into flame, then they were glad to suffer scorn and persecution, whereby they resembled him who had preceded them on the way of suffering.
The prophets had already marked his way of suffering; the disciples now understood that he had not avoided that way. From the crib to the cross, suffering, poverty and lack of appreciation were his lot. He had directed his whole life to teaching people how different God’s view of suffering, poverty and lack of human appreciation from the foolish wisdom of the world. After sin, suffering had to follow so that, through the cross, man’s lost glory and life with God might be regained. Suffering is the way to heaven. In the cross is salvation, in the cross is victory. God willed it so. He himself assumed the obligation of suffering in view of the glory of redemption. St. Paul makes it clear to us how all the disasters of this earthly life are insignificant, how they must be considered as nothing and passing, in comparison with the glory that will be revealed to us when the time of suffering is past and we come to share in God’s glory.
Mary, who kept all God’s words in her heart, in the fullness of grace granted her, understood the great value of suffering. While the apostles fled, she went out to meet the Savior on the way to Calvary and stood beneath the cross, in order to share his grief and shame to the end. And she carried him to the grave, firmly trusting that he would rise.
We object when he hands us the chalice of his suffering. It is so difficult for us to resign ourselves to suffering. To rejoice in it strikes us as heroic. What is the value of our offering of self if we unite ourselves each morning only in word and gesture, rather than in thought and will, to that offering which we, together with the Church, make of him with whom we are in the one body?
Jesus once wept over Jerusalem.
Oh, that this day you had known the gift of God!
Oh, that this day we might realize the value God has placed on the suffering he sends: he, the All-Good.
(Spend a moment of silent prayer.)
Responsory
God forbid that I glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
– by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
We preach Christ crucified, to others a stumbling block and a folly, but to us the power and the wisdom of God,
– by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Let us pray
Loving God,
your servant Titus Brandsma laboured zealously in your vineyard
and gave his life freely because of his faith in you.
Through his intercession I ask for your mercy and help.
Heavenly Father, Titus never refused
when he was asked for help by your people.
In his name, I come to you with my needs:
(In silence mention your requests)
Lord, help me always to imitate the great faith, generous love,
and burning zeal of Titus Brandsma.
Glorify your servant as he wished to glorify you. Amen.
Mary, Mother of Carmel, pray for us.
Titus Brandsma, Carmelite and Martyr, pray for us.
Amen.