Presentations
By the Refounder John D. Hipsley
About the Refounder & CUSP Publications
John D. Hipsley
CUSP Publications, President, Refounder
Christian Understanding through Service & Prayer
Presentations
John is a public speaker and presenter on various themes outlined below.He approaches these subjects is through the “way of beauty” (via pulchritudinis).
The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
The Stages of the Liturgy
The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is the most celebrated divine liturgy (or “mass”) in the Byzantine Rite.
It is named after its core part, the anaphora attributed toSaint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople in the 5th century.
The Divine Liturgy is the primary worship service of the Church The Divine Liturgy is a eucharistic service.
It contains two parts: the Liturgy of the Catechumens , sometimes called the Liturgy of the Word, at which the are proclaimed and expounded; and the Liturgy of the Faithful, sometimes called the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in which the gifts of bread and wine are offered and consecrated; the faithful then partake of them in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
The Church teaches that the gifts truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ , but it has never dogmatized a particular formula for describing this transformation.
The Prothesis (or Proskomedia ), the service of preparing the holy gifts, can be considered a third part which precedes the Liturgy proper.
Source: The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom by Saint John Chrysostom
Lectio Divina Cordis
Divine Reading of the Heart
A presentation integrating the two compoementary practices of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)and Visio Divina (Divine Seeing)
Lectio Divina is a traditional Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God’s word. It does not treat scripture as texts to be studied, but as the living word.
Over time the steps have varied between 4 and 9. Traditionally, Lectio Divina has four separate steps: read; meditate; pray; contemplate. First a passage of scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.
Visio Divina — “sacred seeing” — is an ancient form of Christian prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into a sacred image, in silence, to be receptive to the inner voice of conscience and the Divine.
Lectio Divina Cordis combines these two traditional forms of prayer and includes a focus on icons and sacred images. The five steps are
H: HEAR the words as you inwardly read or speak – LECTIO: Read
E: ENTER the silence to reflect on a core precept – MEDITATIO: Meditate
A: Answer the knocking at the door of your heart – ORATIO: Speak
R: REST peacefully without words or thoughts – CONTEMPLATIO: Contemplate
T: TRUST: “Do not let your HEART be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” (John 13:1)
The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus
Application of the 30 Principles to Daily Life
Feast Day of St. John Climacus: March 30, 4th Sunday of Lent
Quote by St. John Climacus
“Do not be surprised if you fall back into your old ways every day. Do not be disturbed but resolve to do something positive about it; and without question the angel who stands guard over you will honor your perseverance.”
The Ladder of Divine Ascent, or Ladder of Paradise; Scala or Climax Paradisi), is an important ascetical treatise for monasticism in Eastern Christianity written by John Climacus in ca. AD 600 at the request of John, Abbot of Raithu, a monastery situated on the shores of the Red Sea.
The Scala, which obtained an immense popularity and has made its author famous in the Church, is addressed to anchorites and cenobites and treats of the means by which the highest degree of religious perfection may be attained.
Divided into thirty parts, or “steps”, in memory of the thirty years of the life of Christ, the Divine model of the religious, it presents a picture of all the virtues and contains a great many parables and historical touches, drawn principally from the monastic life, and exhibiting the practical application of the precepts.
The Scala consists of 30 chapters or “rungs”:
- Renunciation
- Detachment
- Exile or pilgrimage
- Obedience
- Repentance
- Reembrace of death
- Mourning
- Anger and meekness
- Remembrance of wrongs
- Slander or calumny
- Talkativeness and silence
- Lying
- Despondency
- Gluttony
- Purity and chastity
- Love of money or avarice
- Non possessiveness
- Insensibility
- Sleep (and psalmody)
- Bodily vigil
- Cowardice
- Vainglory
- Pride and blasphemous thoughts
- Meekness, simplicity and guilelessness
- Humility
- Discernment: thoughts, passion and virtues
- Stillness
- Prayer
- Godlike dispassion
- Trinity and the virtues
Source: The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas
She is Rising in the East
A presentation on the iconography, Codex and symbols contained in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe: December 12
Quote by Pope Francis:
“Tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. On this occasion, I wish to greet the brothers and sisters of this continent, and I do so thinking of the Virgin of Tepeyac.
When she appeared to St. Juan Diego, her face was that of a mestiza (mixed race) woman and her clothes were full of symbols of the indigenous culture. Following the example of Jesus, Mary is close to her children. She accompanies them on their way as a solicitous mother, and shares the joys and hopes, sufferings and anxieties of the people of God, who are called to form part of all the peoples of the earth.
The appearance of the image of the Virgin on the tilma of Juan Diego was a prophetic sign of an embrace, Mary’s embrace, of all the inhabitants of the vast American lands, both those who were already there and those who came after.”
The historical account of the five apparitions in three days is based on the oldest written record of the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Nican Mopohua, written in Náhuatl about 1540 by Don Antonio Valeriano, one of the first Aztec Indians educated by the Franciscans at the Bishop’s Colégio de la Santa Cruz. An illustration of the apparition event with the signatures of Don Antonio Valeriano and his teacher Father Bernardino de Sahagún with the date 1548 was recently uncovered in a private collection in 1995, now referred to as the Codex 1548. The Codex 1548 has been scientifically determined to be genuine, and substantiates the historical basis of the apparition of Guadalupe.
The Jesuit Father Miguel Sanchez published the first Spanish work on Guadalupe, Imagen de la Virgen Maria Madre de Dios de Guadalupe in 1648. Brother Luis Lasso de la Vega published in Náhuatl the Nican Mopohua; the Nican Motecpana, an account of fourteen miracles of Our Lady; and other documents in a collection known as Huey Tlamahuizoltica in 1649.
The theologian Luis Becerra Tanco published his work on the tradition of Guadalupe in 1675. Finally, the Jesuit professor of theology Francisco de Florencia produced his account of the apparition in 1688. These four writers have been important in the preservation of the tradition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The history of the event is of prime importance. The precipitous conversion of over 8 million Aztec Indians to Catholicism in seven years is highly indicative of the miracle of Guadalupe. Dr Alan Schreck of Franciscan University has pointed out that great historical movements do not result from non-events.
Stars on the Tilma
A study by Dr. Hernandez Illescas of 150 icons and paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe during the 17th and 18th centuries following the revelation on “December 12th 1531” did not reveal a single replica or copy in which the viewer could recognize the constellations depicted on the original Tilma (cloak) of Juan Diego.
Source: “La Virgen de Guadalupe y Las Estrallas, Dr. Juan Homero Hernandez Illescas; Pbo. Mario Rojas, Mons. Enrique Salazar, Centro des Estudios Guadalupanos.