Happy 4th of July

Currently 30% of this blog's readers are from the United States of America. So may I wish you a very happy day today if you are celebrating in the land of the free and the home of the brave. God bless America!

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Fr Charles Briggs – an update

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Fr Briggs is very grateful to you all for your Masses, prayers, cards and kind wishes. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.
As expected, Father’s health has continued to worsen because of the cancer that he has, along with his existing health problems. Following medical advice, his family today agreed to transfer him for the time being, to St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham where additional support is on hand. 
In the current circumstances, St Christopher’s has told us that they cannot allow visitors apart from two named people. Father Charles has asked his brother Matt Briggs and his priest friend, Father Finigan to take on this role.
Cards and letters can be sent to Father Charles care of:
St Christopher’s Hospice 51-59 Lawrie Park Road London SE26 6DZ
Emails can be sent to him care of the parish email address: chislehurst@rcaos.org.uk 
Thank you for your support and concern, and especially your prayers.
Fr Tim Finigan Matt Briggs 23 August 2020
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A personal message from Fr Charles Briggs

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While we were away this week on a short break to Eastbourne, I assisted Fr Briggs in drafting this message. He wanted it to be published here for the benefit of friends that he may not be able to see personally.
A message from Fr Charles Briggs Dear friends,

I must let you know that my health has recently taken a turn for the worse. Just over two weeks ago I woke up to find that a tooth had fallen out. After a visit to the hospital, I was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw.

Since then, events have moved quickly. After some investigation, the doctors have told me that there is no effective treatment for my condition and that the tumour is growing fast. Although it is difficult to predict with accuracy how quickly things may develop, it is likely that I may have only months, or weeks, left for this world. My mobility has further decreased since my diagnosis and quite soon I will need to move into nursing care.

Your prayers would naturally be very much appreciated. As a priest, I am well f…
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Fr Charles Briggs RIP

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Of your charity, pray for the repose of the soul of Father Charles Briggs who died in the early hours of this morning at St Christopher’s Hospice, fortified by all the rites of Holy Mother Church. 
Anima eius et animae omnium fidelium defunctorum, per misericordiam Dei, requiescat in pace. Amen.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
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The Good Samaritan: an ancient tradition of interpretation

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The parable of the good Samaritan presents us with a moral lesson, and the saints who have commented on it do refer to this lesson. However the parable is also remarkable for the way in which the Fathers of the Church consistently understood it as an allegory in which the traveller is the fallen human person, Jericho is the world, Jerusalem is heaven, and the good Samaritan is Our Lord. This kind of interpretation is found in St Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, St Ambrose and St Augustine. 
This line of tradition is such that a scholar like Jean Danielou could suggest that it goes back to the first Christian community. If that is the case, it is probable that it goes back to Our Lord himself, in the “many other things” that Our Lord said. (Jn 21.25) This is why the Fathers of the Church are so important; they preserve for us the apostolic tradition, the lessons which the apostles themselves learned from Christ but are not written down. St Basil, for example, speaks of this t…
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Plenary indulgences not impossible

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions:

The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence
Pope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina. Norm 7 states:
To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.”It is worth reading the other norms because …
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