Communio

The former Swiss theologian of the papal household under Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Georges Cottier, OP, thinks it's possible to accept some of Obama's approach to matters like abortion, etc. as a temporary measure because he perceives Obama as realistic. John Allen writes about the cardinal's remarks. I think the cardinal's approach is too optimistic and weak in some areas. What do you think of Cottier's and Allen's analysis? Is Cottier realistic or naive?

OK, I laughed (to myself so as not to disturb the priests with whom I live) that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in May to a youth conference that he thinks women are the stronger sex and psychologically more sturdy than men. My mother and sister would agree; and if my grandmothers and Aunt Jeanne were alive, they'd agree with His All Holiness. I am happy that he said this because he confirmed something I always knew or was drilled into my noggin --and heard proclaimed by women's organizations since I've been in seminary formation. While this is neither new news nor as the critical as the oxygen being sucked out of the news industry in the past 8 days (with Michael Jackson's death) but now it's "infallible" and we all know the truth. Really, I am not poking fun at the Russian Patriarch...I think it's humorous that such a point was newsworthy of Interfax, a news agency. In part, Patriarch Kirill said:

"Men happen to be frailer. The upheavals of 1990s caused many of them to break down, but women had more vigor to endure the stress."

Answering questions, it was said that sport achievements required courage: "women win our country most of Russia's gold medals in sport."

The Patriarch's words received a riveting ovation. "An individual comprises both spirit and body, and human strength depends not only on its physical component. In this regard, women are the stronger sex," Patriarch Kirill said.

That he travels around Russia Patriarch Kirill noticed that "Almost every village has some kind of an amateur talent group. Who sings in a choir? Women do, and sometimes they are accompanied by a drunken accordionist." The same is true for many village schools, libraries, post offices, local administration where women have to play the lead, concluded Kirill.

The Holy Father recognized the 2001 healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan as a miracle by way of the Venerable Servant of God Cardinal John Henry Newman's intercession. This was the final step in the beatification process of the English cardinal; of course, the canonization process will continue to its natural end. Now the details of the beatification ceremony are pending which is likely to be England.

Because thou has seen Me, Thomas, thou has believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed, alleluia.

Have you ever thought what a contemporary Martin Luther would criticize?

My friends at St Louis Abbey posted this cheat-cheat on doing lectio divina encouraging us to dig deeply into this very necessary form of prayer. All good things are derived from the daily practice of lectio divina. As the monks will tell you, lectio is not only for monks but for the entire Church.

Lectio divina is a way of getting in touch daily in a personal way with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; it is a way of getting in touch with Jesus Christ our Lord and our brother. It is away of reading centered on God and, if you do it with faith you will be able to hear what he has to say to you here at this moment.  It is a way of reading which is slow so that the words are savored in meditation. It moves from the literal meaning to what only the Spirit can make clear to you. It calls for action by your involvement and for passive surrender as it draws you into the heart of God. It is disinterested; the text must be read for its own sake and not for the achievement of having read it.

Lectio is a way of experiencing Jesus Christ. You will encounter him personally in the sacred scriptures because he is there hidden in the pages of your Bible and you ought to believe in his presence with greater assurance than if you could see him with your eyes.  He has the same power there as he revealed in the gospels and he cures you of your physical and moral ailments, brings his light to your everyday life and leads you to eternal life.

Your encounter is with the Word who loves you unconditionally and is ever present and real in your life. From all eternity God has had a plan for the whole course of your life, your personal fulfillment, your vocation, your happiness. You will surely stray from the right path and become alienated from your true self through serving other gods, if you do not allow him to reveal himself to you daily through his word. It is in your Bible that the true story of your life is written. If you don't at once understand what you read, then have confidence that the Lord will reveal it to you in his own time, because no word comes form the mouth of the Lord without achieving in you the work he intended. If your thoughts and imagination get in the way of your prayer, then fling them immediately before Christ.  Make no attempt to master them by your own strength, but try to turn back to your prayer.

You ought to do lectio every day, even if it is only one single verse of the Bible, because, "It is not on bread alone that man lives but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)  Your reading of the word of God should be deliberate, moving slowly from verse to verse, from word to word, watching for the context, paying close attention to each passage, looking out for the answers that are there in sacred scripture itself and the echoes they evoke, watching the notes and marginal references and always treasuring silence so as to make space to listen. You should know that the word you hear is directed to you personally and individually. When you read the word of God, it speaks to you; when you pray, you speak to the word and so turn your prayer into conversation.

Your prayer may be simply staying with the word in silence, or it may be a thanksgiving, or a petition, or praise, or blessing, or contrition, or intercession, or one single word on which you pause and then repeat at will, or it may be a prayer of inspiration. If you are taking part in shared lectio, the way to share what the scripture has said to you is by means of a personal comment spoken in the first person singular and applied to your own life, or else it may be a prayer out loud offered directly to God.

By José Manuel Eguiguren Guzman of the Manquehue Movement, Chile; translated by Abbot Patrick Barry, O.S.B.

For these three persons do not have will or power according to their relationships but rather according to the fact that each single person is God.

Yesterday morning [June 30] there was help at the Congregation for Causes of Saints the second meeting of the theological consultors tasked to examine the "Positio," that is the documents and testimonies of the cause for beatification of John Paul II. In the first meeting, about which Il Giornale has spoken, was held on 13 May. But it had an intermediate (or interlocutory... "interlocutorio") outcome, because of critical point raised not about the personal sanctity of Pope Wojtyla but about the manner in which the work was advanced and the lack of documentation.  The postulator of the cause, Msgr. Slawomir Oder, responded in writing to the objections and yesterday there was held the second and final meeting of the theologians, which had given a favorable majority opinion. Two of them maintained the initial "suspended judgment" ("sospensivo") because they though that the proofs and documents ought to have been integrated ("il quadro probatorio e documentale debba essere integrato"). This is the article that was published in today's Il Giornale. Now the "Positio" goes to the cardinal and bishop members of the Congregation, who before the end of the year will make a decision about the heroic virtue of Pope Wojtyla. Then it will fall to Pope Benedict to promulgate the decree which will bring his predecessor to beatification.

On 31 March 197 Pope John Paul II said of Communion and Liberation: "I like this name very much." Here's his explanation:

So you too, young people, beloved young people, have shown, in the very name chosen to describe your movement "Communion and Liberation" (I must say that I like this name very much, I like it for many reasons: for a theological reason and for, I would say, an ecclesiological reason. This name is so closely linked with the ecclesiology of Vatican II. Then I like it because of the perspective it opens to us: the personal, interior perspective and the social perspective: Communion and Liberation. For its topicality, this is the task of the Church today: a task which is expressed precisely in the name "Communion and Liberation." With this name, therefore, you have shown that you are well aware of the deepest expectations of modern man. 

The liberation to which the world aspires--you have reasoned--is Christ; Christ lives in the Church; man's true liberation takes place, therefore, in experience of ecclesial communion; to build up this communion is, therefore, the essential contribution that Christians can make to the liberation of all.

The Jesuit report that after residing more than seventy years within the papal summer Palace itself, the headquarters of the Vatican Observatory recently moved to a new location in the Papal Gardens at Castelgandolfo. The move was occasioned by increased demands for space within the Palace, and the growing needs of the Observatory. Until few weeks ago, the observatory offices were located on the top floor of Papal Palace, the Pope's summer home located in the Alban Hills, 25 kilometers southeast of Rome. Its extensive astronomical library is scattered over four rooms on the top two floors of the Palace, while the valuable meteorite collection and laboratory, the historic vault of photographic observations made at the Observatory from 1895 to 1979, and the classroom where the biennial Vatican Observatory Summer Schools are conducted, are located on the ground floor of the Palace. Meanwhile, the living quarters of the Jesuits is divided between rooms on the second and top floors. With the prospect of half a dozen younger Jesuits joining the staff over the next five years, the issue of both residence and office space was becoming acute.

"Moving the Observatory collections and libraries has been a logistical challenge," noted Father José Funes, the Argentinean Jesuit and director of the observatory. "But the new site will allow us to address a growing need for space and order." The new quarters, located in the remodelled monastery built by the Basilian monks within one of the most beautiful gardens in the Italian peninsula, should provide a far more peaceful and comfortable setting. The Vatican Observatory traces its history to the reform of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIII in 1583. It was re-organized by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, "so that everyone might see clearly that the Church and her Pastors are not opposed to true and solid science, whether human or divine, but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it with the fullest possible devotion."