Paul Zalonski: April 2009 Archives

Merciful God, source and goal of all life, you gave Blessed Pauline the grace to seek and do your will in all the changing circumstances of her life. Through her intercession help us to trust in your guidance and to bear witness to your love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

The Sisters of Christian Charity

Mother Adalberta Mette's biography of Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt

 

The source of Mother Pauline's competence and self-assurance in dealing with people was Christ. It was said of her:

Christ was the center of her life--Christ, "the kindness and love of God" (Titus 3, 4) made visible. In Christ, in the encounter with him in his Word and in the Eucharist, as well as in the "least of his brothers and sisters," she found love that does not count, that does not calculatingly repay like with like, but gives itself away out of pure mercy, without reservation, without restriction, without intention, and which gives witness of the fidelity, the mercy, the affection of God for us people. It is that love which accepts the risk to let the other free to accept this affection but in the same way knows how to awaken the best in others and may raise them to the light.  She wanted every Sister of her congregation to feel impelled by this love.

Yesterday (April 29, 2009), Tom McFeely, of the National Catholic Register posted a brief story relating the "back story" to Mary Ann Glendon's declining the Laetare Medal.

Catholic writer and art historian Elizabeth Lev is Mary Ann Glendon's daughter.

In a post at PoliticsDaily.com, Lev -- who lives in Rome and is a regular contributor to Zenit news service -- discusses her mother's decision to refuse to accept Notre Dame's Laetare Medal.

Lev explains that Glendon's action, undertaken because of Notre Dame's honoring of pro-abortion President Barack Obama, must be considered in the context of Glendon's proven commitment to defending the human rights of all vulnerable people, born and unborn.

And, Lev said, in light of that commitment it's silly to dismiss her mother's principled action as merely a gesture by someone who cares only about the pro-life cause.

"Professor Glendon was to have been honored for not only for her scholarship, but for her second career, her pro-bono work -- ranging from the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the great civil rights issues of the present day -- namely, the defense of human life from conception to natural death," writes Lev. "Her concerns range from the aging and dying population to the unborn to the well-being and dignity of every life, regardless of race, religion, or economic status. Her outstanding work in this field has earned her the respect of the most brilliant minds of the international community, regardless of whether they agree with her position. So again, to see her merely as 'strongly anti-abortion' instead of as a tireless defender of the dignity of life, is to reveal not only a lack of understanding of the subject's work, but also the writer's real interest in this question."

The Lord led the just in right paths, alleluia.

Of all the parables this [one on the prodigal son, Matthew15:11-32] is the most popular, appealing more universally to the heart of man than any other. In fact, it contains the whole scope of the theology of God and the salvation of men. And to some extent it applies to all of us to some degree. Unless we have lived perfect lives, it is true we are called prodigal.

As Catholics, if we have done wrong, we go back to our Father. Christ is represented by a priest. We say, "Father, bless me for I have sinned." The priest gives a blessing. The penitent then says, "Father, it is so long since my last confession and I have sinned as follows." He expresses his sorrow and contrition for his sins. Then the words of absolution are pronounced over him. God sees in him one that has been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

Then he is led to the glorious Lamb of God, slain for us on Calvary, residing in the tabernacle, to be our food. The tabernacle door is opened. It contains these hosts, every one of which is the body, blood, soul and divinity of the Lamb of God, giving peace to you, and there is rejoicing among the angels.

There is told the story of an old French curate when a prodigal came to him. As he was making his confession in the sacristy, the priest smiled and the young man stopped and said, "Father, if you are going to laugh at me I won't go on with my confession." "My son,' said the priest, "You misunderstand. I was only thinking of what the Lord said, 'There is more rejoicing among the angels of heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety-nine just persons which need no repentance.'" That is the spirit of the mercy and love of God. God understands our weaknesses, our waywardness, infirmities, like sheep going astray. His love goes out, seeks us, so glad to have us come to Him. The very angels of God sing with God the Father, that we are back home again.

I hope that everybody, in the degree in which you are a prodigal, will take home the message of the love of Christ, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and won't keep away from it. Repent of your sins, feel his embrace, that joy of conscience after a good confession, after you have been forgiven. The Father's says, "I am well pleased with you now. You were lost and you are found." [See Luke 15:32]

(Father Paul Wattson, SA, Retreat at Hereford, Texas, June 1922)

The University of Notre Dame's Center for Ethics and Culture establishes "The Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life," a fund to support pro-life activities. Here's the summary of this new initiative and the press release.

PS: poke around the Center's website, especially the list of Board of Advisors and notice the names of those who lend their political & religious influence to this project.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls, who, when he had found one of great price, gave all that he had and bought it, alleluia.

Here's the Boston Globe's story of a man's healing through the intercession of John Henry Newman.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote to Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, retired archbishop of Bologna, on the occasion of the ninth centenary of the death of Saint Anselm. I find this letter to be an amazing testimony to the operative graces at work in the Church 900 years ago and today. What is said by the Holy Father is a great reminder of what our aim ought to be as faithful Christians, and for those called to ministry, what our responsibilities are.

In view of the celebrations in which you, venerable brother, will take part as my legate in the illustrious city of Aosta in honor of the ninth centenary of the death of St. Anselm, which took place in Canterbury on 21 April 1109, I would like to give you a special message in which I wish recall the main features of this great monk, theologian and pastor of souls, whose work has left a deep mark on the history of the Church.

The anniversary is indeed an opportunity not to be missed to renew the memory of one of the brightest figures in the tradition of the Church and in the history of Western European thought. The exemplary monastic experience of Anselm, his original method of rethinking the Christian mystery, his subtle philosophical and theological doctrine, his teaching on the inviolable value of conscience and on freedom as the responsible adherence to truth and goodness, his passionate work as a shepherd of souls, dedicated with all his strength to the promotion of "freedom of the Church," have never ceased to arouse in the past the deepest interest, which the memory of his death is happily reigniting and encouraging in many ways and in different places.

In this memorial of the "Magnificent Doctor" -- as St. Anselm is called -- the Church of Aosta cannot but be recognized, the Church in which he was born and which is rightly pleased to consider Anselm as her most illustrious son. Even when he left Aosta in the time of his youth, he continued to carry in his memory and in his heart the bundle of memories that was never far from his thoughts in the most important moments of life. Among those memories, a particular place was certainly reserved for the sweet image of his mother and the majestic mountains of his valley with their high peaks, and perennial snow, in which he saw represented, as if in a fascinating and suggestive symbol, the sublimity of God. To Anselm - "a child raised in the mountains," as Admero his biographer calls him, (Vita Sancti Anselmi, i, 2) - God appears to be that of which you cannot think of something bigger [the translator probably meant "greater"]: perhaps his intuition was not unrelated to the childhood view of those inaccessible peaks. Already as a child he thought that in order to find God it was necessary to "climb to the summit of the mountain" (ibid.). In fact, he will realize more and more that God remains at an inaccessible height, located beyond the horizons which man is able to reach, since God is beyond the thinkable. Because of this, the journey in search of God, at least on this earth, will never end, but will always be thought and desire, the rigorous process of the intellect and the imploring inquiry of the heart.

The intense desire to know and the innate propensity for clarity and logical rigor will push Anselm towards the "scholeae" [schools] of his time. He will therefore join the monastery of Le Bec, where his inclination for dialectic reflection will be satisfied and above all, where his cloistered vocation will enkindle. To dwell on the years of the monastic life of Anselm is to encounter a faithful religious, "constantly occupied in God alone and in the disciplines of heaven" -- as his biographer writes -- in order to achieve "such a summit of divine speculation that would enable him by a path opened by God to penetrate, and, once penetrated, to explain the most obscure and previously unresolved questions concerning the divinity of God and our faith and to prove with clear reasons that what he stated belonged to sure Catholic doctrine" (Vita Sancti Anselmi, i, 7). With these words, his biographer describes the theological method of St. Anselm, whose thought was ignited and illuminated in prayer. It is he himself that confesses, in his famous work, that the understanding of faith is an approach toward a vision, which we all yearn for and which we all hope to enjoy at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, "Quoniam inter fidem et speciem intellectum quem in hac vita capimus esse medium intelligo: quanto aliquis ad illum proficit, tanto eum propinquare speciei, ad quam omnes anhelamus, existimo (Cur Deus homo, Commendatio).

The saint desired to achieve the vision of the logical relationships inherent to the mystery, to perceive the "clarity of truth," and thus to grasp the evidence of the "necessary reasons," intimately bound to the mystery. A bold plan certainly, and it is one whose success still occupies the reflections of the students of Anselm today. In fact, his search of the "intellectus" [intellect] positioned between "fides" [faith] and "species" [vision] comes out of the source of the same faith and is sustained by confidence in reason, through which faith in a certain way is illuminated. The intent of Anselm is clear: "to raise the mind to contemplation of God" (Proslogion, Proemium). There remain, in any event, for every theological research, his programmatic words: "I do not try, Lord, to penetrate your depth, because I cannot, even from a distance, compare it with my intellect, but I want to understand, at least up to a certain point, your truth, which my heart believes and loves. I do not seek, in fact, to try to understand it in order to believe it, but I believe in order to understand it."[Non quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam] (Proslogion, 1).

In Anselm, prior and abbot of Le Bec, we underline some characteristics that further define his personal profile. What strikes us, first of all, is his charism as an expert teacher of spiritual life, one who knows and wisely illustrates the ways of monastic perfection. At the same time, one is fascinated by his instructive geniality, which is expressed in that discernment method -- which he names, the "via discretionis" (Ep. 61) -- which is a small image of his whole life, an image composed of both mercy and firmness. The peculiar ability which he demonstrates in initiating disciples to the experience of authentic prayer is very peculiar: in particular, his "Orationes sive Meditationes," eagerly requested and widely used, which have contributed to making many people of his time "anime oranti" [praying souls], as with his other works, have proved themselves a valuable catalyst in making the Middle Ages a "thinking" and, we might add, "conscientious" period. One would say that the most authentic Anselm can be found at Le Bec, where he remained thirty three years, and where he was much loved. Thanks to the maturity that he acquired in a similar environment of reflection and prayer, he will be able, as well in the midst of the subsequent trials as bishop, to declare: "I will not retain in my heart any resentment for any one" (Ep. 321).

The nostalgia of the monastery will accompany him for the rest of his life. He confessed it himself when he was constrained, to his deepest sorrow and that of his monks, to leave the monastery to assume the Episcopal ministry to which did not feel well disposed: "It is well known to many," he wrote to Pope Urban II, "the violence which was done to me, and how much I was reluctant and contrary, when I was brought as a bishop to England and how I explained the reasons of nature, age, weakness and ignorance, which were opposed to this office and that absolutely detest and shun scholastic duties, which I cannot dedicate myself to at all without endangering the salvation of my soul" (Ep. 206). He confides later with his monks in these terms: "I have lived for 33 years a monk -- three years without responsibility, 15 as prior, and as many as abbot -- in such a way that all the good people that knew me loved me, certainly not by my own merits but for the grace of God, and the ones that loved me most were those that knew me most intimately and with greatest familiarity" (Ep. 156). And he added: "You have been many to come to Le Bec ... Many of you I surrounded with a love so tender and sweet that each one had the impression that I did not love anyone else in the same way" (ibid.).

Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and beginning, in this way, his most troubled journey, his "love of truth" (Ep. 327), his uprightness, his strict loyalty to conscience, his "Episcopal freedom" (Ep. 206), his " Episcopal honesty" (Ep. 314), his tireless work for the liberation of the Church from the temporal conditionings and from the servitude of calculations that are incompatible with his spiritual nature will appear in their full light. His words to King Henry remain exemplary in this respect, "I reply that in neither baptism nor in any other ordination that I have received, did I promised to observe the law or the custom of your father or of the Archbishop Lanfranco, but the law of God and of all the orders received" (Ep. 319). For Anselm, the primate of the Church of England, one principle applies: "I am a Christian, I am a monk, I am a Bishop: I desire to be faithful to all, according to the debt I have with each" (Ep. 314). In this vein he does not hesitate to say: "I prefer to be in disagreement with men than, agreeing with them, to be in disagreement with God" (Ep. 314). Precisely for this reason he feels ready even for the supreme sacrifice: "I am not afraid to shed my blood, I fear no wound in my body nor the loss of any material good" (Ep. 311).

It is understandable that, for all these reasons, Anselm still retains a great actuality and a strong appeal, in as much as it is fruitful to revisit and republish his writings, and together meditate continuously on his life. For this reason I have rejoiced that Aosta, on the occasion of the ninth centenary of the death of the saint, has distinguished itself with a set of appropriate and intelligent initiatives -- especially with the careful edition of his works -- with the intention to make known and loved the teachings and examples of this, its illustrious son. I entrust to you, Venerable Brother, the task of bringing to the faithful of the ancient and beloved city of Aosta the exhortation to remember with admiration and affection this great fellow citizen of theirs, whose light continues to shine throughout the Church, especially where the love for the truths of faith and the desire for their study by the light of reason are cultivated. And, in fact, faith and reason -- "fides et ratio" -- are united admirably in Anselm. I send, with these heartfelt sentiments through you, venerable brother, to the Bishop, Monsignor Giuseppe Anfossi, the clergy, the religious and the faithful of Aosta and to all those who take part in the celebrations in honor of the "Magnificent Doctor," a special apostolic blessing, propitiatory of an abundant outpouring of heavenly favors.

Remember not the sins of my youth and all my follies, O Lord.

O God, who willed to guide the steps of your priest, saint Louis-Marie, into the way of salvation and of delight in Christ in the company of the Blessed Virgin, grant that we, by following his example, may meditate the mysteries of your love and devote ourselves tirelessly to the upbuilding of your Church.

Saint Louis-Marie's Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary can be followed here.

And if you want to know more about the rosary, read a classic: The Secret of the Rosary by Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort.

A brief biography of Saint Louis-Marie can be read here.

All of Montfort's works are worthy of time but especially noteworthy is the Total Consecration.

Recently a group of priests re-published a set of texts written by Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II about marriage and family. The book is called The Beauty and The Spirituality of Conjugal Love.

Karol Wojtyla wrote these texts in 1962 while he was the cardinal archbishop of Krakow based on his pastoral experience in the years following the Second World War with young and married peoples.

The point of Wojtyla's writing is to promote communion among people, especially married peoples, so as to live the Christian life. This book is a method of living married life in faith and not as a set of rules and prohibitions. These texts were published again in published 1990s but received little attention. They are now offered again as a guide to marriage in the 21st century.

The video clip on the presentation.

We are made for others. The human heart naturally reaches out, even craves and depends on friendship. The truest desire of communion of heart, mind and body happens in the with God (or at least it ought to begin with God) and then there ought to be a communion with another human being as is found in marriage, friendship or religious life. From experience, we understand that man and woman are incomplete without some fulfilling relationship but the fulfillment comes not from any relationship; it comes from a place deep in the human experience, the correspondence of the heart. Christians exist in a companionship that has divine and human coordinates. Analogically, we say the same of God. Catholics are not Unitarians (though you would not know by the way they act and speak about God sometimes); Catholics believe in and relate to God who is a trinity of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray to God the Father through Jesus Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit. Further, Catholics say that the Trinity decided, because of their love, that the second person of the Trinity, would become man and open the gates of heaven so that humanity might know, love and serve God.

When it comes to the concrete, our faith in Christ as the Word made flesh indicates to us that we engage in reality precisely because the Lord entered into human history. But there are obstacles for a solid engagement of culture in an era that holds fast to a variety conflicting epistemologies that are contrary to the Gospel and orthodox theological reflection. Moreover, it may be difficult for some people to believe in and experience the reality of love: do we know that we fight to love and to receive love? Do we really accept that humanity is impoverished when love is absent or dysfunctional? Then there is the issue of believing that the intentions of a lover toward his (her) beloved are pure and oriented toward the good. Sadly, the idea that we ought to have affection for ourselves is often perceived as new news and met with no small amount of skepticism. One way of engaging life is having affection for ourselves -NOT egotism-- but a genuine affinity for the self which opens the door to see life differently. Affinity for self and others can be another way of speaking about love, but the use of the word "affinity" gives us a new set of eyes and legs for engaging reality that is before us. Having affection for oneself means that we lean toward our destiny more seriously, intentionally and with wholesomeness so as to live a companionship desired for us by God.

A recently published book puts our view of reality, love and God on end. Elizabeth of the Trinity: Always Believe in Love, edited by Marian T. Murphy, OCD (New City Press, 2009) is a wonderful collection of writings of this relatively unknown saint-to-be, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. Elizabeth was a Carmelite nun who spent five years in a Carmelite monastery before dying at the age of 26. She is revered as a mystic with a profound understanding of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, and that's not only because her religious name in the convent acknowledges a fact after a spiritual experience. The book includes extracts from Elizabeth's diary, letters, poems, retreat notes, a prayer, a chronology and a select bibliography among other things. This volume is my first introduction to the person and thought of Blessed Elizabeth save for Father Henry dropping her name in a homily or two. The holy and human attractiveness of Blessed Elizabeth confirms my suspicion that we want, need men and women to point the way to a deeper union with God: with Elizabeth (and countless others) there is no reason why Catholics have to search for mystical experiences in other faith traditions. What I came to realize is how profoundly centered on the love of the Trinity this young woman was, and how her mission to lead others directly to Christ was keen. What the Second Vatican Council asked us to do, that is, to reclaim to claim a personal holiness centered on the Incarnation, Elizabeth promoted in the 19^th century by telling us: "Look at every suffering and every joy as coming directly from Him, and then your life will be a continual communion, since everything will be like a sacrament that will give you God." There's no separation from between life and God.  Do we live our lives with this conviction? Can we see this belief in our daily actions? One learns among many things in this volume that Pope John Paul II was influenced by Blessed Elizabeth and so made it his mission to make her known to the Church. At the foot of Elizabeth we realize ever more deeply that in being loved we can love.

As the editor Sister Marian said so very well in her excellent introduction: "The saints are God's glorious palette, and without them, as Chesterton said: 'we could lose the humanity of Christ'; for in them, we experience his rootedness in our ordinary lives. Their passionate, single-minded following of Christ fascinates us as we recognize the source of their, and our, true greatness."

When the Lord of the world comes and undertakes the slave's task of foot-washing - which is an illustration of the way he washes our feet all through our lives - we have a totally different picture. God doesn't want to trample on us but kneels down before us so as to exalt us. The mystery of the greatness of God is seen precisely in the fact that he can be small... Only when power is changed from the inside, and we accept Jesus and his way of life, whose whole self is there in the action of foot-washing, only then can the world be healed and the people be able to live at peace with one another.   Pope Benedict XVI

Tonight's TV news on NBC drew the world's attention to the fact that Mary Ann Glendon declined Notre Dame's famous Laetare Medal that is given at the commencement exercises in May. By the way, 2009 marks the 126th year of the award. The medal honors the distinguished work of Catholics; once reserved for the laity now also given to the clergy and religious. These events have me thinking about the meaning of these events surrounding the craziness of inviting the US president who stands contrary to Catholic faith and Professor Glendon who is a faithful Catholic to be on the same stage.

It seems to me that when you pan the comments of academics at Catholic colleges and university what you don't see is rhetoric about Christ, faith as a way of knowing, truth, the objectivity of the Church, the intersection of faith and reason, etc.  What you will find are comments like: "We don't see a conflict with our Catholic identity if we have a speaker on campus who may have views that are in conflict with Catholic teachings. We consider the contributions the speaker has made to society as a whole, and that doesn't necessarily mean we endorse all of their positions or views. We're committed to a Jesuit tradition, which doesn't suppress educational issues and intellectual debate," said Kristine Maloney, a spokeswoman for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. But Ms. Maloney fails to understand that this type of forum gives credence of equality to contrary views to Catholic faith. Obama's speech is a monologue not a dialogue.

Or, let's take the president of Trinity Washington University's Patricia McGuire who reminds us that Catholics have long struggled to get a place of respectability in the market place of ideas and that to blindly follow the bishops would simply be parochial.  In her estimation, "The diminishment of the idea of the university by [some critics] betrays two centuries of intellectual advancement and real leadership by Catholic higher education in this nation." Really, I don't think it is narrow-minded to stand with the Church I profess to believe in and follow unto my salvation in Christ.

Let's just take the Jesuit college's perspective since there are far more people memorized by the so-called Jesuit tradition realizing neither the history nor the aim of Jesuit, Catholic education. Let's remember what many faculty members said at the last search for a Holy Cross College president: we don't want a lay person as president because he or she might make the College too Catholic; a Jesuit is freer to allow us to think and act the way we want. Hence, what you see embedded in Ms. Maloney's remarks about the Jesuit intellectual life of the university is true now but historically that same Jesuit intellectual tradition followed Christ unconditionally because it was rooted in the Spiritual Exercises. In fact, contemporary Jesuit apostolates are said to exist "To follow Christ bearing his Cross means announcing his Gospel of hope...." Jesuit institutions stood for faithfulness to the Gospel, to Church teaching and the dignity of the human person. The Jesuit educational apostolate explored the limits of faith and reason but always came back to faith as the mother of virtue and true knowledge. In a former time there was not a capitulation to secular values that divorces Christ from reality, that removes the Church from the public square or merely wants to fit-in at all costs.

I fail to see why fitting-in is a value for academics at Catholic institutions: theirs is a quest for the reasonableness of Truth. Being like the professors in secular universities in my estimation is a failed enterprise and one that has lead away from Jesus Christ as Savior and reality. True to the Ignatian heritage of Jesuit educational institutions it would be good if Holy Cross College and 27 other Jesuit colleges and universities did the Examen according to the mind Saint Ignatius of Loyola asking the Lord for the grace of conversion while attempting to live in "that harmony with the Magisterium which avoids causing confusion and dismay among the People of God" (Benedict XVI to the Jesuits, 2008)

Many US Catholics seem comfortable with beige Catholicism and a theology based on sentiment. There is no arguing otherwise given Notre Dame's honoring of President Obama and now the growing list of "Catholic" institutions of higher learning caving to political pressure and respectability with no significant outcry from the bulk of 60 million Catholics in the US. When encountering Saint Peter at the heavenly gates I hope the academics don't get offended if Saint Peter has a different view on what it means to be a Catholic and to labor at a Catholic higher educational institution. Let's be clear: Christ didn't come to found a Catholic university--He came to bring us to the Father with the distinct claim that He, Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life. Anything short of that is nonsense.

In world where clarity of Catholic faith is "normal" Catholic education would not afraid of differing theological or philosophical positions, especially those that may run contrary to orthodox Catholic teachings; in fact, a Catholic ought to be respectful of what others have to say, always proposing the Gospel and the Church teaching as true and a place of encounter with Christ.  Having said this, a platform at a Catholic institution needs to sensitively, yet firmly follow Christ and the teachings of His Church. Clearly, playing footsy with positions contrary to the Church cannot not be presented as equally valid to what the Church holds or teaches!

Let's not grow faint of heart by following Christ and keeping in mind the motto of the Laetare Medal: Magna est veritas et prevalebit (Truth is mighty, and it will prevail).

An International Flannery O'Connor Conference

The April 20-22, 2009 conference was sponsored by the Poetics & Christianity which is "an international forum for studying the intersection of artistic culture and expressions of religious faith, with a special emphasis on narrative and dramatic arts. It offers a meeting place for scholars and artists of diverse fields of expertise."

The O'Connor Conference was the 4th gathering of scholars and other interested parties matters pertaining to art and faith. Since Flannery O'Connor is relatively unknown in Europe, Father Wauck felt it was time to introduce the world to writer who lived her Catholic faith and wrote fiction using Catholic sacramentality. Father Wauck said,

"Flannery O'Connor's fiction offers an example of what Catholic art can achieve when it's fully informed by a sophisticated theological understanding, a rigorous philosophical background, and also the kind of dedication to craft, to the artistry of writing that she combined."

A video clip on the conference can be seen here.

In this photo taken April 26, is a chip containing the entire Hebrew Bible at the Technion University in Haifa. During a May 11 reception at the residence of Israel's president, Shimon Peres, Benedict XVI will receive this 300,000-word Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible inscribed on a silicon particle the size of a grain of sand, using nanotechnology. The chip is read through a microscope which makes it a tad difficult for lectio and proclamation in a synagogue or a church.

11 years ago today my maternal grandmother, Marian Barrett Leslie Grindell died at the age of 92. Then, as I do now, I thought that she'd be present to me forever. Biologically she died, but spiritually she remains close, true to what the Preface for the Mass of Christian Burial says, "life has changed, not ended." I prayed for her today, as did my my Mom, recognizing the distance in time and activities that have transpired since that day the Lord called.

Mary Ann Glendon has declined the Laetare Medal given by the University of Notre Dame.

I believe this is the type of witness to Jesus Christ we hunger for from the depths of our heart.

Read her letter to Father Jenkins here.

If Christ has nothing to do with what you touch and look at it, it's not true that you are touching, it's not true that you are looking. It's not true that he has nothing to do with these things; rather, what's true is that you're not looking, touching, loving - your humanity isn't true. In fact, you're confused about your destiny and you're completely skeptical about the possibility of reaching your destiny. What is human is missing: in our doubt, it's not Christ that is missing, but rather our humanity.   Msgr. Luigi Giussani

Conversion and baptism immerse us in Christ's Easter mystery, and involve us in his death and resurrection. Easter calls for the reborn, the resurrected; the rebirth and the resurrection of which baptism is not only the beginning, but also offers the grace for its progressive and complete fulfillment.

As Christians we are never finished being converted, reborn and risen again; the condition of our life on earth is the tension of a continual regeneration in Christ, conforming us more and more to his death and resurrection.

A Christian's striving is never ended; we ourselves says the Apostle who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption (Romans 8:23). We shall have full and complete redemption only in heaven, for only then shall we be assimilated in an enduring way into Christ's paschal mystery and die to sin, once for all. . .and be alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:10-11).

Divine Intimacy
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD

Holy Virgin, moved by the painful uncertainty we experience in seeking and aquiring the true and the good, we cast ourselves at thy feet and invoke thee under the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel. We beseech thee: come to our aid at this moment in our worldly sojourn when the twin darknesses or error and of evil that plots our ruin by leading minds and hearts astray.

Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the victims of doubt and of error so that they may not be seduced by evil masquerading as good; strengthen them against the hostile and corrupting forces of passion and of sin.

Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us from thy Divine Son the love of virtue and the strength to choose, in doubtful and difficult situations, the course agreeable to our salvation. Supported by thy hand we shall thus journey without harm along the paths taught us by the word and example of Jesus our Savior, following the Sun of Truth and Justice in freedom and safety across the battlefield of life under the guidance of thy maternal Star, until we come at length to the harbor of salvation to enjoy with thee unalloyed and everlasting peace.

Pope Pius XII

23 January 1953

People who follow the life of Communion & Liberation meet weekly for what is called the School of Community, a catechetical session which works on a particular idea of Msgr. Giussani's. The catechesis is supposed to make the connection with one's experience and a lofty theological opinion, as much as theological opinions are helpful from time-to-time. This year we are working on volume 2 of Is It Possible to Live This Way: Hope. (This follows on a book we worked on last year by a similar title though the subject then was faith and it is expected that we'll work on volume 3 next year dealing with charity.)

Our group is faithful to coming together for the shared experience of learning the faith and sharing friendship. A great grace indeed.

Last evening we had the distinct privilege of welcoming the Master of the Order of Preachers, Father Carlos Azpiroz-Costa for 15 minutes to our meeting. Father Carlos is the successor of Saint Dominic de Guzman. He took a personal interest in all of us. He's here in the US doing the work of the Order. Without prompting he mentioned that he's speaking with the Dominicans (and others) about the intimate connection between faith and reason as particularly being Catholic and very needed today. Hence, he's fleshing out the work of Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict. Father Carlos was incredibly encouraging of our friendship and work with the local priory of Dominicans in New Haven. May God grant him many blessings!

The London Telegraph ran a story about the theologians' acceptance/approval of the miracle put forward by Cardina John Henry Newman's postulator. It's an American helping a Brit. Now the information is on the Pope's desk. "People" are hoping for a beatification ceremony in the autumn. Deo volente. Read the story here.

O ye holy and just ones, rejoice in the Lord, alleluia. God hath chosen you unto Himself for an inheritance, alleluia.

 

O God, Who didst exalt blessed Mark, Thine Evangelist, by the grace of teaching Thy Gospel; grant we beseech Thee, that we may ever profit by his teachings and be defended by his prayers.

Often we hear assertions by the media (and others) that they know what a person is thinking, or better, what he'll do next and why. This is certainly true when talking about the pope: Vatican watchers (speculators?) think they have the pope pinpointed. Much of what is said in the media is a string of partial understandings: one would hope that we could just say we are making a prediction so when it doesn't materialize we don't run away with our heads hung low. Of course human nature seems to want to be right all the time to garner power, fame and even money. Intrigue is rather boring 99% of the time. That said, there are a few people who modestly have an understanding of Benedict XVI which we ought to note.

The longtime friend and collaborator of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, Msgr. Massimo Camisasca, also the founder of the Priestly Fraternity Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, wrote an OP-Ed piece, "The Method Of Benedict XVI" for the online daily Il Sussidiario.net where he outlines a few important things in understanding Pope Benedict. Msgr. Camisasca is providing neither a comprehensive nor exhaustive look into Benedict's life and work but is noting the evident things that many seem to miss. Consider the following themes:

1. there's preference for a person's interior change; the Pope relies on theological premise of conversatio morum (conversion of life/attitude) wrought by the Holy Spirit: nothing is impossible with God;

2. Catholic life necessarily entails a focus on the Church's Liturgy which is rich in tradition because it is our first theology, that is, all else is derivative from the Liturgy: "...manifestation of God's absolute prior initiative in human life, his grace, his mercy, and at the same time his ability to intervene in history, to give shape to existence, to accompany, visibly and invisibly, the paths of the cosmos toward their recapitulation" (above cited article); among other things read the Pope's homilies because there's an theological/spiritual itinerary that we need to be aware of but it's found in this medium;

3. consider the initiatives found in the Years of Saint Paul and Saint John Vianney; what is more is more important than evangelization and priesthood? I would also add the work of the Synods of Bishops on the Word of God and the forthcoming one on Africa;

4. go east: think of Christian life in China which by all accounts has not been a raging success.

Aside from the normal cliches of recognizing that some call Pope Benedict the "new Leo the Great" or the "new Augustine" Msgr. Camisasca rightly focuses our attention on some rather important areas of concern for Benedict which also should concern us if we want to follow his lead to Christ. Instead of focusing on Benedict perhaps we focus on Christ through the lens of Benedict.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission (PBC) during their annual plenary assembly this week has been working on the theme of "Inspiration and Truth in the Bible," as a result of the October 2008 synod of bishops on the Word of God.

In his address to the PBC the Pope spoke of the importance of sacred Scripture because it "concerns not only believers, but the Church herself, because the Church's life and mission necessarily rest upon the Word of God, which is the soul of theology and, at the same time, the inspiration of all of Christian life...the interpretation of sacred Scripture is of vital importance for Christian faith and for the life of the Church."

According to the Holy Father: "From a correct approach to the concept of divine inspiration and truth in sacred Scripture derive certain norms that directly concern its interpretation. The Constitution Dei Verbum, having affirmed that God is the author of the Bible, reminds us that in sacred Scripture God speaks to mankind in a human manner. For a correct interpretation of Scripture we must, then, carefully examine what the hagiographers really sought to say and what God was pleased to reveal with their words."

Drawing his remarks from the Second Vatican Council, the Pope reminded the PBC --and us-- that are "three perennially valid criteria for interpreting sacred Scripture in accordance with the Spirit that inspired it. In the first place, great attention must be given to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture. Indeed, however different the books it contains may be, sacred Scripture is one by virtue of the unity of God's plan, of which Jesus Christ is the center and the heart. In the second place, Scripture must be read in the context of the living tradition of the entire Church [because tradition] carries the living memory of the Word of God, and it is the Holy Spirit who provides her with the interpretation thereof in accordance with its spiritual meaning. The third criterion concerns the need to pay attention to the analogy of the faith; that is, to the cohesion of the individual truths of faith, both with one another and with the overall plan of Revelation and the fullness of the divine economy enclosed in that plan.

Thinking with the Church the work of scholars, in the mind of the mind of the Holy Father, is to "contribute, following the above-mentioned principles, to a more profound interpretation and exposition of the meaning of sacred Scripture. The academic study of the sacred texts is not by itself sufficient. In order to respect the coherence of the Church's faith, Catholic exegetes must be careful to perceive the Word of God in these texts, within the faith of the Church. The interpretation of sacred Scriptures cannot be merely an individual academic undertaking, but must always be compared with, inserted into, and authenticated by the living tradition of the Church. This norm is essential in order to ensure a correct and reciprocal exchange between exegesis and Church magisterium. Catholic exegetes do not nourish the individualistic illusion that biblical texts can be better understood outside the community of believers. The opposite is true, because these texts were not given to individual scholars 'to satisfy their curiosity or to provide them with material for study and research.' The texts inspired by God were entrusted to the community of believers, to the Church of Christ, to nourish the faith and to guide the life of charity. Sacred Scripture is the Word of God in that is written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Tradition, on the other hand, integrally transmits the Word of God as entrusted by Christ the Lord and by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and their successors so that they, illuminated by the Spirit of truth, could faithfully conserve, explain and spread it through their preaching. Only within the ecclesial context, can Sacred Scripture be understood as the authentic Word of God which is the guide, norm and rule for the life of the Church and the spiritual development of believers."

If this is certain, then it means "rejecting all interpretations that are subjective or limited to mere analysis [and therefore] incapable of accepting the global meaning which, over the course of the centuries, has guided the Tradition of the entire people of God."

Today marks William Shakespeare's 445th birthday.

Today also marks the 393rd anniversary of William Shakespeare's death.

Some note that there is a record of his baptism on April 26,1564. With many important figures such as Shakespeare, it is common to list the date of birth and death as the day when accurate records lack.

Whatever the case is, we honor the Bard today.

I was poking around the Religion & Ethics Newweekly and found a review of David Anderson's review of several books on the 19th century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins. His essay,The Grandeur of God and the Life of a Poet, takes the reader through a number of recent studies on the life and work of this rather beautiful, if not complicated Jesuit priest.

I highly recommend this review and the reading of at least one of the reviewed works if you want to lay claim to being liberally educated.

What's helpful here is that there's a list of related books. A good feature, I say.

David Anderson's review...

Ye daughters of Jerusalem, come and see the Martyrs with the crowns wherewith the Lord hath crowned them, on the day of their solemn feast and rejoicing, alleluia, alleluia.

 

O God, Who dost gladden us by the merits and intercession of blessed George. Thy Martyr; mercifully grant that as we seek Thy blessings through him, we may obtain them by the gift of Thy grace.

...that they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:21).

In simplicity of heart I gladly offer everything, O Lord.
The Lord put me on this path, he will remember to sustain me in battle.
To His mercy I entrust my frailty.
I saw in front of me a big cross...,

I thought that my sacrifice was nothing in comparison to His.
I offered myself entirely and I do not withdraw the given word.
God's will whatever it may be, this is my joy, my happiness, my peace.
I will never be able to thank enough.
I cannot say but these words:" My God, your Glory."

Blessed Maria Gabriella

Praying for unity is not a matter reserved only to those who actually experience the lack of unity among Christians. In the deep personal dialogue which each of us must carry on with the Lord in prayer, concern for unity cannot be absent. Only in this way, in fact, will that concern fully become part of the reality of our life and of commitments we have taken on in the Church. It was in order to reaffirm this duty that I set before the faithful of the Catholic Church a model which I consider exemplary, the model of a Trappistine Sister, Blessed Maria Gabriella of Unity, whom I beatified on 25 January 1983. Sister Maria Gabriella, called by her vocation to be apart from the world, devoted her life to meditation and prayer centered on Chapter 17 of St. John's Gospel and offered her life for Christian Unity. This is truly the cornerstone of all prayer: the total and unconditional offering of one's life to the Father; through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. The example of Sister Mara Gabriella is instructive; it helps us to understand that there are no special times, situations, or places of prayer for unity. Christ's prayer to the Father is offered as a model for everyone, always and everywhere.

(Pope John Paul II, Ut unum sint, 1995, 27)

Read more of the blessed's life here and here.

At the Pope's weekly audience he addressed the role of greed as the basis of our current economic problems viz. the life of an 8th century monk. Read the article published at Asia News.

Questions surface from time-to-time about a Catholic being a Mason. Most people see Masonry in the USA as a benevolent society of men helping the elderly and sick children. There's more to the Masons than this. The question of Catholics holding membership in the Masons must be asked. The answer is a short, No. The Masons are heretical in the technical sense of the word, and this is not mere sentiment.

To be clear, the teaching of the Catholic Church never changed but the matter was clouded by the fact that it wasn't as clearly spelled out in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as it was in the 1917 Code. To compare the Codes:

The 1917 Code of Canon Law: "Persons joining associations of the Masonic sect or any others of the same kind which plot against the Church and legitimate civil authorities contract ipso facto excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See."

The 1983 Code of Canon Law: "A person who joins an association which plots against the Church is to be punished with a just penalty; one who promotes or takes office in such an association is to be punished with an interdict" (1374).

For more than 300 years the Catholic Church has formally declared that Catholics who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. Theologically, masonry is against the Christian dogma of the Trinity, a personal God encountered in the person Jesus, the authority of sacred Scripture and Tradition, ecclesial authority, that we adhere to Jesus Christ as Savior and don't believe that salvation is found elsewhere. When it comes down to it, either you believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, or He is not. There is no middle ground. Hence, we believe the teachings of the Masonic Lodge have been and continue to be contrary to Catholic faith and morals. One should note that historically Masonic lodges have actively worked against the truth of Catholicism theologically and socially. They have tried to divide the Church.

With matters of faith and truth Catholics can't adopt the attitude of ignoring the problem with the hope it will go away by attrition. Right thinking, right worshiping, right living are part of a package: this is a matter of salvation.

On Sunday, April 19, Father Tim Finnigan, an English priest and blogger (The Hermenuetic of Continuity) posted a piece on the republication of an older work on Masonic ceremonies and rites; plus, Father Tim adds the 1983 CDF teaching on Catholics and Masons. The matter is worth knowing about.

A few thoughts of Pope Benedict on the meaning of the Resurrection:

Until that moment Christ's death remained almost an enigma, whose outcome was still uncertain. In the Pascal mystery the words of Scripture are fulfilled, that is, this death realized "according to the Scriptures" is an event that carries a "logos" in itself, a logic: Christ's death testifies that the Word of God became human "flesh," human "history," without reserve. How and why this happened, we understand from the other addition Paul makes: Christ died "for our sins." With these words the Pauline text takes up the prophecy of Isaiah contained in the fourth song of the Servant of God (cf. Isaiah 53:12). The Servant of God -- the song says -- "surrendered himself to death," bore "the sins of the world," and interceding for the "guilty" was able to bring the gift of reconciliation among men and between men and God: his is a death therefore that puts an end to death; the way of the cross leads to the resurrection.

In the verses that follow, the Apostle pauses over the Lord's resurrection. He says that Christ "rose on the third day according to the Scriptures." Again: "according to the Scriptures!" Not a few exegetes see in the expression "[he] rose on the third day according to the Scriptures" a significant reference to Psalm 16, where the Psalmist proclaims: "You will not abandon me in the netherworld, nor let his faithful one undergo corruption" (16:10). This is one of the texts of the Old Testament that was cited by early Christians to prove Jesus' messianic character. Since, according to the understanding of Judaism, corruption began after the third day, the word of Scripture is fulfilled in Jesus who rises on the third day, that is, before corruption set in. St. Paul, faithfully transmitting the doctrine of the Apostles, stresses that the victory of Christ over death happens through the creative power of God's Word. This divine power brings hope and joy: this is the definitive liberating content of the Easter revelation. God reveals himself and the power of the trinitarian love that annihilates the destructive forces of evil and death in the events of Easter.

And with humble confidence let us pray: "Jesus, who, rising from the dead, anticipated our resurrection, we believe in you!"

April 19, 2009

Only mercy challenges our hard-headedness like no other reprimand. Jesus said that he who is forgiven much, loves much. Man is sensitive to no other gesture as he is to mercy. After all, it was the method Jesus used, as Saint Paul recalls, "When we were still sinners, Christ died for us.    ~Father Julian Carron

Lo, a brave bishop, lo, a monk most faithful,
Crowned with laurel, flourisheth as a Doctor:
Now let our chorus vie in joyful anthems,
Singing to Anselm.

Filllled with wisdom, ere he grew to manhood,
Earth's fleeting beauty prudently he feared:
Then, through the leading of his master, Lanfranc,
Entered the cloister.

High to the secret of the Word he soared,
Borne in the pinions of a faith unshaken,
Who from the purest fountainheads of doctrine
Draweth more deeply?

Thou, tender Father, chosen to be Abbot,
Wast to thy children lovingly devoted,
Bearing the feeble on thy friendly shoulders,
Spurring the zealous.

Lo, the king calls thee to the seat of honor: Why fear the conflict? Triumph comes quickly; Far-distant nations soon with light thou fillest, O noble exile.

Liberty holy for the flock redeemed,
Liberty, which Christ places over all things,
Impelleth Anselm: who could be more zealous
As its defender?

Thee, Rome acclaimeth, glorious Archbishop.
Thee the high Pontiff giveth worthy honours;
Silent the Fathers; of thee the faith demandeth:
Guard thou its doctrine.

Think on thy chosen flock, and be their patron:
Pray the eternal Trinity to bless them,
His be the praises through the world resounding
Now and forever. Amen.

Hymn at Vigils for the feast of Saint Anselm of Canterbury (and Bec)

Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household, spoke to the participants in the Chapter of the Mats in Assisi, on the occasion of the eighth centenary of the Church's oral approval of the life proposed by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Friar Raniero gives the reader a terrific sense of the Franciscan charism through the centuries but resting on the one and only central aspect of Franciscan life: Christ is everything. His point is that believe that Francis is really unimportant in comparison to following Christ because our salvation comes not from following Francis but Christ crucified and risen. That is, Francis kept his focus on Christ and Christ alone --and we ought to do the same. Hence what we ought to do is to closely follow Christ with the assistance of Saint Francis (and the Franciscan saints). As Francis kept his eyes on Christ so ought we to do the same.

The text of his remarks is found here.

On Saturday, April 18, the Holy Father received various members of the Franciscan family at Castel Gandolfo to observe the 800th anniversary of the ecclesial recognition of the Charism of Saint Francis of Assisi. His remarkable talk is presented here with my emphases. As always the Pope gently and clearly speaks a word of truth and hope.

With great joy I welcome you all at this happy and historic occasion that has gathered you all together: the eighth centenary of the approval of the "protoregola" [monastic rule] of St. Francis by Pope Innocent III. Eight hundred years have passed, and those dozen friars have become a multitude, scattered all over the world and now here, by you, worthily represented. In recent days you have gathered in Assisi for what you wanted to call the "Chapter of Mats" to recall your origins. And at the end of this extraordinary experience you have come together with the "Signor Papa" [Lord Pope], as your seraphic founder would say. I greet you all with affection: the Friars Minor of the three branches, guided by the respective Ministers General, among whom I thank Father José Rodriguez Carballo for his kind words, the members of the Third Order, with their Minister General; the Franciscan women religious and members of the Franciscan secular institutes, and knowing them spiritually present, the Poor Clares, which constitute the "second order."

I am pleased to welcome some Franciscan bishops, and in particular I greet the bishop of Assisi, Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, who represents the Church of Assisi, the home of Francis and Clare, and spiritually, of all the Franciscans. We know how important it was for Francis, the link with the bishop of Assisi at the time, Guido, who acknowledged his charisma and supported it. It was Guido who presented Francis to Cardinal Giovanni of St. Paul, who then introduced him to the Pope and encouraged the adoption of the Rule. Charism and institution are always complementary for the edification of the Church.

What should I tell you, dear friends? First of all I would like to join you in giving thanks to God for the path that he has marked out for you, filling you with his benefits. And as Pastor of the Church, I want to thank him for the precious gift that you are for the entire Christian people. From the small stream that flowed from the foot of Mount Subasio, it has formed a great river, which has made a significant contribution to the universal spread of the Gospel. It all began from the conversion of Francis, who, following the example of Jesus "emptied himself" (cf. Phil 2:7) and, by marrying Lady Poverty, became a witness and herald of the Father who is in heaven. To the "Poverello" [little poor man], one can apply literally some expressions that the apostle Paul uses to refer to himself and which I like to remember in this Pauline Year: "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And this life, I live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who has loved me and given himself for me" (Gal. 2:19-20). And again: "From now on let no one bother me: for I wear the marks of Jesus on my body" (Gal 6:17).

Francis reflects perfectly the footsteps of Paul and in truth can say with him: "For me, to live is Christ" (Phil 1:21). He has experienced the power of divine grace and he is as one who has died and risen. All his previous wealth, any source of pride and security, everything becomes a "loss" from the moment of encounter with the crucified and risen Jesus (cf. Phil 3:7-11). The leaving of everything at that point becomes almost necessary to express the abundance of the gift received. A gift so great as to require a total detachment, which itself isn't enough; it requires a entire life lived "according to the form of the holy Gospel" (2 Tests, 14: the Franciscan Sources, 116).

And here we come to the point that surely lies at the heart of our meeting. I would summarize it as follows: the Gospel as a rule of life. "The Rule and life of the Friars Minor is this, to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:" this is what Francis writes at the beginning of his Rule (Rb I, 1: FF, 75). He defined himself entirely in the light of the Gospel. This is his charm. This is his enduring relevance. Thomas of Celano relates that the Poverello "always held himself in the heart of Jesus. Jesus on the lips, Jesus in his ears, Jesus is his eyes, Jesus in his hands, Jesus in all the other members [...] In fact finding himself often traveling and meditating or singing about Jesus, he would forget he was traveling and would stop to invite all creatures to praise Jesus" (1 Cel., II, 9, 115: FF115). So the Poverello has become a living gospel, able to attract to Christ men and women of all ages, especially young people, who prefer radical idealism to half-measures. The Bishop of Assisi, Guido, and then Pope Innocent III recognized in the proposal of Francis and his companions the authenticity of the Gospel, and knew how to encourage their commitment for the good of the Church.

Here is a spontaneous reflection: Francis could have also not gone to the Pope. Many religious groups and movements were forming during that time, and some of them were opposed to the Church as an institution, or at least didn't seek the Churches' approval. Certainly a polemical attitude towards the hierarchy would have won Francis many followers. Instead, he immediately thought to put his journey and that of his companions into the hands of the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter. This fact reveals his true ecclesial spirit. The little "we" that had started with his first friars he conceived from the outset inside the context of the great "we" of the one and universal Church. And the Pope recognized and appreciated this. The Pope, in fact, on his part, could have not approved the project of the life of Francis. Indeed, we can well imagine that among the collaborators of Innocent III, some counseled him to that effect, perhaps fearing that his group of monks would end up resembling other heretical groups and pauperisms of the time. Instead the Roman Pontiff, well informed by the Bishop of Assisi and Cardinal Giovanni of St. Paul, was able to discern the initiative of the Holy Spirit and welcomed, blessed and encouraged the nascent community of "Friars Minor."

Dear brothers and sisters, eight centuries have passed, and now you have wanted to renew this gesture of your founder. You are all sons and heirs of those origins, of that "good seed" which was Francis, who was conformed to the "grain of wheat" which is the Lord Jesus, died and risen to bring forth much fruit (cf. Jn 12:24). The saints propose anew the fruitfulness of Christ. As Francis and Clare of Assisi, you also commit yourselves to follow the same logic: to lose your lives for Jesus and the Gospel, to save them and make them abundantly fruitful. While you praise and thank the Lord who has called you to be part of such a great and beautiful family, stay attentive to what the Spirit says to it today, in each of its components, to continue to proclaim with passion the Kingdom of God, the footsteps of your seraphic father. Every brother and every sister should keep always a contemplative mood, happy and simple; always begin from Christ, as Francis set out from the gaze of the Crucifix of San Damiano and from the meeting with the leper, to see the face of Christ in our brothers and sisters who suffer and bring to all his peace. Be witnesses to the "beauty" of God, which Francis was able to sing contemplating the wonders of creation, and that made him exclaim to the Most High: "You are beauty!" (Praises of God Most High, 4.6: FF 261).

Dear friends, the last word I would like to leave with you is the same that the risen Jesus gave to his disciples: "Go!" (cf. Mt 28:19, Mk 16:15). Go and continue to "repair the house" of the Lord Jesus Christ, his Church. In recent days, the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region has severely damaged many churches, and you from Assisi know what this means. But there is another "ruin" that is far more serious: that of people and communities! Like Francis, always start with yourselves. We are the first house that God wants to restore. If you are always able to renew yourselves in the spirit of the Gospel, you will continue to assist the pastors of the Church to make more and more beautiful the Church's face, that of the bride of Christ. The Pope, now the same as then, expects this of you. Thank you for coming! Now go and bring to all the peace and love of Christ the Savior. May Mary Immaculate, "Virgin made Church" (cf. Greetings to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1 FF, 259), accompany you always. And may my Apostolic Blessing, which I cordially impart to all of you here present, and the entire Franciscan family, support you as well.

Benedictus PP. XVI

See the video clip on the Pope-Franciscan visit

Saint Anselm, Abbot, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (1033 - 1109)

This year marks the ninth centenary of the death of Saint Anselm, often referred to as the "Father of Scholasticism," though he is one among many who are said to be the "Father of Scholasticism," a philosophical movement which sought to express religious dogma within a philosophical framework dependent on the Fathers of the Church, especially Saint Augustine of Hippo, and the teaching of Aristotle. He relied on reason to argue for the existence of God and other theological tenets.

Three of Anselm's best known works of more than 10 known works, On Divine Being (Monologion),  Why God Became Man (Cur Deus Homo) and the treatise on the Knowledge of the Existence of God (the Proslogion) continue to keep his name alive in philosophical and theological circles.

Born in Aosta, Italy, he traveled to France for his education where he eventually became a monk at the newly founded monastery of Bec in Normandy. In 1063 he was appointed Prior of the monastery. He was profoundly influenced by the charismatic scholar and abbot, Lanfranc, who was to become the close friend of the Norman Duke, William, famous for his conquest of England in 1066. Lanfranc was appointed archbishop of the primatial See of Canterbury, continuing to be the trusted advisor of the king and pursuing a policy of reforming the Church in England along Norman lines through ecclesiastical administration, liturgical ritual, and Romanesque architecture.

Anselm, after his election as abbot of Bec (1078), was able to use his long tenure in office for scholarly and spiritual pursuits, a life to which he was ideally suited. Under Anselm Bec as an intellectual center expanded. Following Lanfranc's death, William II nominated Anselm to the See of Canterbury (1093), where, however, his temperament and continual conflicts with the Anglo-Norman kings caused him bitter disappointment and exile.

 

We beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously enlighten Thy Church, that being illumined by the teaching of blessed Anselm, Thy Confessor and Bishop, she may attain to eternal gifts.

This past week I spent it visiting friends at Portsmouth Abbey. Savoring the graces of Easter was an important part of my desire to be away from that which is "normal"  plus visiting friends who I haven't seen in a while was refreshing. There are 13 monks resident.

Portsmouth is a monastery of Benedictine monks under the patronage of Saint Gregory the Great. The abbey has been in Portsmouth, Rhode Island since 1926 located 7 miles north of Newport and 20 minutes south of Fall River on Narragansett Bay. The location is beautiful and for me, quintessentially "New England." Among many things the abbey is famous for historically being populated by monks who converted to Catholicism and for the school the monks run, Portsmouth Abbey School.

... the proverbial scene of the doubting Thomas that occurred eight days after Easter is very well known. At first he did not believe that Jesus had appeared in his absence and said: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe" (Jn 20: 25).

Basically, from these words emerges the conviction that Jesus can now be recognized by his wounds rather than by his face. Thomas holds that the signs that confirm Jesus' identity are now above all his wounds, in which he reveals to us how much he loved us. In this the Apostle is not mistaken.

As we know, Jesus reappeared among his disciples eight days later and this time Thomas was present. Jesus summons him: "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing" (Jn 20: 27).

Thomas reacts with the most splendid profession of faith in the whole of the New Testament: "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20: 28). St Augustine comments on this: Thomas "saw and touched the man, and acknowledged the God whom he neither saw nor touched; but by the means of what he saw and touched, he now put far away from him every doubt, and believed the other" (In ev. Jo. 121, 5).

The Evangelist continues with Jesus' last words to Thomas: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (Jn 20: 29). This sentence can also be put into the present: "Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe".

In any case, here Jesus spells out a fundamental principle for Christians who will come after Thomas, hence, for all of us.

It is interesting to note that another Thomas, the great Medieval theologian of Aquinas, juxtaposed this formula of blessedness with the apparently opposite one recorded by Luke: "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!" (Lk 10: 23). However, Aquinas comments: "Those who believe without seeing are more meritorious than those who, seeing, believe" (In Johann. XX lectio VI 2566).

In fact, the Letter to the Hebrews, recalling the whole series of the ancient biblical Patriarchs who believed in God without seeing the fulfilment of his promises, defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11: 1).

The Apostle Thomas' case is important to us for at least three reasons: first, because it comforts us in our insecurity; second, because it shows us that every doubt can lead to an outcome brighter than any uncertainty; and, lastly, because the words that Jesus addressed to him remind us of the true meaning of mature faith and encourage us to persevere, despite the difficulty, along our journey of adhesion to him.

A final point concerning Thomas is preserved for us in the Fourth Gospel, which presents him as a witness of the Risen One in the subsequent event of the miraculous catch in the Sea of Tiberias (cf. Jn 21: 2ff.).

On that occasion, Thomas is even mentioned immediately after Simon Peter: an evident sign of the considerable importance that he enjoyed in the context of the early Christian communities.

Indeed, the Acts and the Gospel of Thomas, both apocryphal works but in any case important for the study of Christian origins, were written in his name.

Lastly, let us remember that an ancient tradition claims that Thomas first evangelized Syria and Persia (mentioned by Origen, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 3, 1) then went on to Western India (cf. Acts of Thomas 1-2 and 17ff.), from where also he finally reached Southern India.

Let us end our reflection in this missionary perspective, expressing the hope that Thomas' example will never fail to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Our God.

(Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience 27 July 2006)

Happy Easter to our Eastern brothers and sisters! May the risen Lord lead all of us to greater freedom through His mercy.

Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to Your shepherd, Pope Benedict, a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love.

By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care may he, as successor to the apostle Peter and vicar of Christ, build Your Church into a sacrament of unity, love, and peace for all the world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

 

May God grant Pope Benedict many years!

If [God] had no need of the flesh, why did He heal it? And what is most forcible of all, He raised the dead. Why? Was it not to show what the resurrection should be? How then did He raise the dead? Their souls or their bodies? Manifestly both. If the resurrection were only spiritual, it was requisite that He, in raising the dead, should show the body lying apart by itself, and the soul living apart by itself. But now He did not do so, but raised the body, confirming in it the promise of life. Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm this, when His disciples did not know whether to believe He had truly risen in the body, and were looking upon Him and doubting, He said to them, "Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I"; and He let them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the nails in His hands. And when they were by every kind of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the body, they asked Him to eat with them, that they might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had in verity risen bodily; and He did eat honey-comb and fish. And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), "He was taken up into heaven while they beheld," as He was in the flesh. If, therefore, after all that has been said, any one demand demonstration of the resurrection, he is in no respect different from the Sadducees, since the resurrection of the flesh is the power of God, and, being above all reasoning, is established by faith, and seen in works.

Saint Justin Martyr, before A.D. 165, from some lost fragments on the Ressurection

Today Pope Benedict XVI met the Franciscan families at the Pope's summer residence. The gathering of friars and sisters in Assisi is to celebrate 800 years of the approval of the Franciscan way of life by Pope Innocent III in 1209

 

May Saint Francis of Assisi intercede for us!

Almighty and eternal God, Who did bestow the Paschal sacrament in the covenant of man's reconciliation, grant that we may manifest in our lives what we profess outwardly in our faith.

On April 16, 1209, Pope Innocent III orally approved the new way of life of

Saint Francis of Assisi. 

No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves. 
Saint Francis of Assisi

Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan sharing a tender moment with his Mom.

May God grant the Archbishop's Dad eternal rest.

Redemption has been offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads to­wards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey. The promise of Christ is not only a reality that we await, but a real presence.

Benedict XVI

 

We speak about how things ought to be or what is not going well and "we do not start from the affirmation that Christ has won the victory." To say that Christ has won, that Christ has risen, signifies that the meaning of my life and of the world is present, already present, and time is the profound and mysterious working of its manifestation.

Luigi Giussani

O God, Who has united diverse nations in the confession of Thy Name, grant that those who have been regenerated by the waters of baptism may be one in their faith and in the purity of their lives.

Christ has destroyed the root of evil, he still wants the assistance of men and women in every time and place who help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love. ...Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love.

Pope Benedict's 2009 Urbi et Orbi address

Happy 82nd Birthday Pope Benedict!

May God grant you many years!

It is fundamental for our faith and our Christian witness that we proclaim the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as a real, historical event. His resurrection was not a simple return to existence, but an entrance into a new dimension of life meant to transform every human being, all history and the whole cosmos.

 

Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 15 April 2009

A conference on Saint Paul's faith and his unique role in the diffusion of Christianity. A presentation by Father Peter Cameron, Editor-in-chief of Magnificat; and Archbishop Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Den­ver. Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 7:00 pm. The event will be at The American Bible Society Auditorium in New York City.

 

For more info visit the website

The Church in New York, and for that matter the Church in Bridgeport and the Church Universal, owes a debt of gratitude to Cardinal Edward Egan for his service as a priest, bishop and cardinal.

When he took over the leadership of New York's Church it was a time of great turmoil. I think he's done the best he could given time and talent and grace --and for that I am grateful.

May the Lord abundantly bestow many rich blessings upon Cardinal Egan as he moves into another chapter of his life. May he continue to live in the holiness of Truth.

As the Church in New York accepts Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan as the their archbishop we gather our prayers together for him as well. The rites of installation have begun and we join in the faith, hope and charity of Christians.

Dolan is the new pastor of 2.5 million people!

May the Blessed Virgin and the Saints petition Almighty God for the graces needed for Archbishop Dolan to govern, sanctify and teach the faithful of the Archdiocese of New York.

To Whom Shall We Go? Remain close to the Lord, He has the words of everlasting life!

The Opus Dei has put together a fine video clip series on Saint Paul for this year dedicated to him. Various themes are covered by professors of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross briefly; they're aimed at forming us to have a greater understanding of the Saint. Some videos are in Spanish and others in Italian but they all have English subtitles; there's at least one given by a native English speaker. As you know, the goal of the Year of Saint Paul is not merely to know the Apostle's thinking better --scholars are providing new works on this every year-- rather, as Pope Benedict has recalled on a number of occasions, the hope of the Year is to learn from Paul how to respond to the current challenges of the faith.

You can view the works here.

The headmistress of Purísima Concepción y Santa María Micaela school, a parochial school in Logroño in northern Spain, Sister María Victoria Vindel gave this presentation to her students about horror of abortion. The slideshow is provocative and graphic

Spain's very left leaning government is trying to overturn its country's abortion laws. To procure an abortion in Spain is currently a crime. Sister Vindel is being attacked by those who want to "progress" into the 21st century of nihilism. Pray for her and the others taking up the fight against abortion.

All Catholics are familiar with the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross), the best known devotion on Fridays in Lent following the Lord to His death on the cross. It must be said it's a very appropriate devotion each Friday through the year. On Good Friday there's usually a mega-observance of the Way of the Cross in parish churches, in the Roman Coliseum with the Pope or in New York City sponsored by Communion & Liberation.

As we know Pope John Paul II was big on the Via Crucis as a daily spiritual exercise; other spiritual giants did the same and I think we all would benefit from keeping the Cross in front us by praying the Via Crucis. What is little known is that John Paul also advocated a devotion called the Via Lucis (Way of Light): The Stations of the Resurrection. The Via Lucis is an apt way to recall the saving events of the Paschal Triduum. While there are no physical objects called "Stations of the Resurrection" to follow in our churches (at least not yet) there is no reason why we can't create them. Let me say from the outset, the Via Lucis is not merely a nice thing to do in the Easter season but an essential practice for getting to know the Lord better so as to live the Christian faith more intensely because we are the witnesses to the world of the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus.

The Directory of Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001) says:

A pious exercise called the Via Lucis has developed and spread to many regions in recent years. Following the model of the Via Crucis, the faithful process while meditating on the various appearances of Jesus - from his Resurrection to his Ascension - in which he showed his glory to the disciples who awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14, 26; 16, 13-15; Lk 24, 49), strengthened their faith, brought to completion his teaching on the Kingdom and more closely defined the sacramental and hierarchical structure of the Church.

Through the Via Lucis, the faithful recall the central event of the faith - the resurrection of Christ - and their discipleship in virtue of Baptism, the paschal sacrament by which they have passed from the darkness of sin to the bright radiance of the light of grace (cf. Col 1, 13; Ef 5, 8).

For centuries the Via Crucis involved the faithful in the first moment of the Easter event, namely the Passion, and helped to fixed its most important aspects in their consciousness. Analogously, the Via Lucis, when celebrated in fidelity to the Gospel text, can effectively convey a living understanding to the faithful of the second moment of the Pascal event, namely the Lord's Resurrection.

The Via Lucis is potentially an excellent pedagogy of the faith, since "per crucem ad lucem". Using the metaphor of a journey, the Via Lucis moves from the experience of suffering, which in God's plan is part of life, to the hope of arriving at man's true end: liberation, joy and peace which are essentially paschal values.

The Via Lucis is a potential stimulus for the restoration of a "culture of life" which is open to the hope and certitude offered by faith, in a society often characterized by a "culture of death", despair and nihilism. (153)

The Via Lucis

1. Jesus Rises From the Dead (Matthew 28:1-7)

2. The Disciples Find the Tomb Empty (John 20:1-9)

3. The Risen Lord Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)

4. The Risen Lord Appears to Two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27)

5. The Risen Lord Is Recognized at the Breaking of Bread (Luke 24:28-35)

6. The Risen Lord Appears to His Disciples (Luke 24:36-43)

7. The Lord Gives the Power to Forgive Sins (John 20:19-23)

8. The Lord Confirms the Faith of Thomas (John 20:24-29)

9. The Risen Lord Meets His Disciples on the Shore of Lake Tiberias (John 21:1-13)

10. The Risen Lord Confers the Primacy on Peter (John 21:15-17)

11. The Risen Lord Entrusts to His Disciples the Mission to the World (Matthew 28:16-20)

12. The Risen Lord Ascends to the Father (Acts 1:6-11)

13. Waiting for the Holy Spirit With Mary, the Mother of Jesus (Acts 1:12-14)

14. The Risen Lord Sends the Holy Spirit Promised to the Disciples (Acts 2:1-13)

Good question. Read Tim Drake's article "Easter Evidence." What is under-estimated is the credibility of the witnesses to Jesus' resurrection. Establish the witness then you can speak of the authority of the Church which in turn leads to the biblical texts, etc. Without the witness of the apostles do we have anything to go on?

Father Richard John Neuhaus' recent book, American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile, which argues for a natural law approach to political and moral order, was reviewed last week by Charles R. Morris of the NY Times. Read it here.

Turn, O Lord, and deliver their souls for there is none in death who will be mindful of You!

The dead from Italy's earthquake last week are mourned. A Mass of Christian Burial was offered on Good Friday by Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI with the bishops and priests of the region.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, deliver the souls of Thy servants, that being dead to this world, they may live to Thee and whatever sins they have committed through human frailty, do Thou wipe away by the pardon of Thy merciful goodness.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

And it is finished...the sacred liturgies of the Easter Triduum...

And looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled back, for it was very large, alleluia.

O God, on this day through Thine only-begotten Son has overcome death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life, do Thou follow with Thine aid the desires which Thou does put into our minds and by Thy continual help bring the same to good effect.

The Marian Antiphon concluding Compline during Eastertide is the Queen of Heaven Rejoice.

V. Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia:
R. For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
V. Has risen, as He said, alleluia.
R. Pray for us to God, alleluia..

Let us pray:
O God, who by the resurrection of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, granted joy to the whole world: grant, we beg You, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may lay hold of the joys of eternal life. Through Christ our Lord.

Read about this prayer here; it has an interesting history.

The sacred Liturgy follows the biblical pattern of prayer: sundown to sundown. You will notice that our Jewish brothers and sisters do the same. So one's following the liturgical life of the Church needs to remember that telling time is a bit different in that a liturgical day does not begin with sunrise to sundown. Consequently, the sacred Triduum we've just celebrated started with the Mass of the Lord's Supper and ends not with the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday but at second Vespers on Easter Sunday. This is a topic some family and friends don't easily comprehend.

The essay "Liturgical Time and Space" in The Handbook for Liturgical Studies (in 5 vols) edited by Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB is an excellent resource for these matters liturgical.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world,

From the depths of my heart, I wish all of you a blessed Easter. To quote Saint Augustine, "Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra - the resurrection of the Lord is our hope" (Sermon 261:1). With these words, the great Bishop explained to the faithful that Jesus rose again so that we, though destined to die, should not despair, worrying that with death life is completely finished; Christ is risen to give us hope (cf. ibid.).

Indeed, one of the questions that most preoccupies men and women is this: what is there after death? To this mystery today's solemnity allows us to respond that death does not have the last word, because Life will be victorious at the end. This certainty of ours is based not on simple human reasoning, but on a historical fact of faith: Jesus Christ, crucified and buried, is risen with his glorified body. Jesus is risen so that we too, believing in him, may have eternal life. This proclamation is at the heart of the Gospel message. As Saint Paul vigorously declares: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." He goes on to say: "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied" (1 Cor 15:14,19). Ever since the dawn of Easter a new Spring of hope has filled the world; from that day forward our resurrection has begun, because Easter does not simply signal a moment in history, but the beginning of a new condition: Jesus is risen not because his memory remains alive in the hearts of his disciples, but because he himself lives in us, and in him we can already savour the joy of eternal life.

The resurrection, then, is not a theory, but a historical reality revealed by the man Jesus Christ by means of his "Passover", his "passage", that has opened a "new way" between heaven and earth (cf. Heb 10:20). It is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but it is a singular and unrepeatable event: Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, who at dusk on Friday was taken down from the Cross and buried, has victoriously left the tomb. In fact, at dawn on the first day after the Sabbath, Peter and John found the tomb empty. Mary Magdalene and the other women encountered the risen Jesus. On the way to Emmaus the two disciples recognized him at the breaking of the bread. The Risen One appeared to the Apostles that evening in the Upper Room and then to many other disciples in Galilee.

The proclamation of the Lord's Resurrection lightens up the dark regions of the world in which we live. I am referring particularly to materialism and nihilism, to a vision of the world that is unable to move beyond what is scientifically verifiable, and retreats cheerlessly into a sense of emptiness which is thought to be the definitive destiny of human life. It is a fact that if Christ had not risen, the "emptiness" would be set to prevail. If we take away Christ and his resurrection, there is no escape for man, and every one of his hopes remains an illusion. Yet today is the day when the proclamation of the Lord's resurrection vigorously bursts forth, and it is the answer to the recurring question of the sceptics, that we also find in the book of Ecclesiastes: "Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See, this is new'?" (Ec 1:10). We answer, yes: on Easter morning, everything was renewed. "Mors et vita, duello conflixere mirando: dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus - Death and life have come face to face in a tremendous duel: the Lord of life was dead, but now he lives triumphant." This is what is new! A newness that changes the lives of those who accept it, as in the case of the saints. This, for example, is what happened to Saint Paul.

Many times, in the context of the Pauline year, we have had occasion to meditate on the experience of the great Apostle. Saul of Tarsus, the relentless persecutor of Christians, encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, and was "conquered" by him. The rest we know. In Paul there occurred what he would later write about to the Christians of Corinth: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17). Let us look at this great evangelizer, who with bold enthusiasm and apostolic zeal brought the Gospel to many different peoples in the world of that time. Let his teaching and example inspire us to go in search of the Lord Jesus. Let them encourage us to trust him, because that sense of emptiness, which tends to intoxicate humanity, has been overcome by the light and the hope that emanate from the resurrection. The words of the Psalm have truly been fulfilled: "Darkness is not darkness for you, and the night is as clear as the day" (Ps 139 [138]:12). It is no longer emptiness that envelops all things, but the loving presence of God. The very reign of death has been set free, because the Word of life has even reached the "underworld", carried by the breath of the Spirit (v. 8).

If it is true that death no longer has power over man and over the world, there still remain very many, in fact too many signs of its former dominion. Even if through Easter, Christ has destroyed the root of evil, he still wants the assistance of men and women in every time and place who help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love. This is the message which, during my recent Apostolic Visit to Cameroon and Angola, I wanted to convey to the entire African continent, where I was welcomed with such great enthusiasm and readiness to listen. Africa suffers disproportionately from the cruel and unending conflicts, often forgotten, that are causing so much bloodshed and destruction in several of her nations, and from the growing number of her sons and daughters who fall prey to hunger, poverty and disease. I shall repeat the same message emphatically in the Holy Land, to which I shall have the joy of travelling in a few weeks from now. Reconciliation - difficult, but indispensable - is a precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My thoughts move outwards from the Holy Land to neighbouring countries, to the Middle East, to the whole world. At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and deprivation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope. Let no one draw back from this peaceful battle that has been launched by Christ's Resurrection. For as I said earlier, Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love.

Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope! This the Church proclaims today with joy. She announces the hope that is now firm and invincible because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. She communicates the hope that she carries in her heart and wishes to share with all people in every place, especially where Christians suffer persecution because of their faith and their commitment to justice and peace. She invokes the hope that can call forth the courage to do good, even when it costs, especially when it costs. Today the Church sings "the day that the Lord has made", and she summons people to joy. Today the Church calls in prayer upon Mary, Star of Hope, asking her to guide humanity towards the safe haven of salvation which is the heart of Christ, the paschal Victim, the Lamb who has "redeemed the world", the Innocent one who has "reconciled us sinners with the Father". To him, our victorious King, to him who is crucified and risen, we sing out with joy our Alleluia!

Christians understand: yes indeed, in the resurrection, the Son of God has emerged as the Light of the world. Christ is the great Light from which all life originates. He enables us to recognize the glory of God from one end of the earth to the other. He points out our path. He is the Lord's day which, as it grows, is gradually spreading throughout the earth. Now, living with him and for him, we can live in the light.

But once Christ is risen, the gravitational pull of love is stronger than that of hatred; the force of gravity of life is stronger than that of death.

(From Pope Benedict XVI's Easter Vigil Homily, 11 April 2009)

Are there any who are devout lovers of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!

Are there any who are grateful servants?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!

If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.

To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.
Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!

First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!

Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.

Isaiah foretold this when he said,
"You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below."
Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.

Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.

O death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!

Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

The Easter sermon of John Chrysostom (circa AD 400)

Exult now O you angelic throngs of the heavens:

Exult O you divine mysteries: and let the saving trumpet resound for the victory of so great a King. Let the earthly realm also be joyful, made radiant by such flashings like lightning: and, made bright with the splendor of the eternal King, let it perceive that it has dismissed the entire world's gloom.

Let Mother Church rejoice as well, adorned with the blazes of so great a light: and let this royal hall ring with the great voices of the peoples. Wherefore, most beloved brothers and sisters, you here present to such a wondrous brightness of this holy light, I  beseech you, together with me invoke the mercy of Almighty God.

Let Him who deigned to gather me in among the number of the Levites, by no merits of mine, while pouring forth the glory of His own light enable me to bring to fullness the praise of this waxen candle.

Deacon: The Lord be with you!
Response: And with your spirit!
D: Raise your hearts on high!
R: We now have them present to the Lord!
D: Let us then give thanks to the Lord our God!
R: This is worthy and just!

Truly it is worthy and just to resound forth with the whole of the heart, disposition of mind, and by the ministry of the voice, the invisible God the Father Almighty, and His Only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, on our behalf, resolved Adam's debt to the Eternal Father and cleansed with dutiful bloodshed the bond of the ancient crime.

For these are the Paschal holy days, in which that true Lamb is slain, by Whose Blood the doorposts of the faithful are consecrated.

This is the night in which first of all You caused our forefathers, the children of Israel brought forth from Egypt, to pass dry shod through the Red Sea. This is the night which purged the darkness of sins by the illumination of the pillar. This is the night which today restores to grace and unites in sanctity throughout the world Christ's believers, separated from the vices of the world and the darkness of sins. This is the night in which, once the chains of death were undone, Christ the victor arose from the nether realm. For it would have profited us nothing to have been born, unless it had been fitting for us to be redeemed.

LET me tell you right now,
No one suffered more on Good Friday
And deserves a rest today
Than the King of the Jews-

And right now he's in hell.

He descended into hell
Where he is right now.
And right now he is being himself,
He's being his God-from-heaven-descended self,
And I'll bet you that it's a real blast in hell
With him there
And I'll bet he's in there
And having a ball.
He's redeeming hell
By his sky-high dream-drawn scheme
Of simply being himself
And accepting selves' selves
And offering himself to God-on-high for them.

The gloominess of today's weather leads to a gloomy feeling that all is not well in the world. Of course, it is Holy Saturday which in itself is a bittersweet experience: the Paschal Mystery is intense and the drama of the sacred Liturgy causes me to reflect more deeply on important matters: human desire, cooperation with truth, faithfulness, interior and exterior peace, love, salvation, God, Chris't atonement, etc.

The spiritual intensity of the day has led me to think of how some cultural commentators are looking at life through the lens of Christian faith seeing a dismal experience of Christianity and the reduction of man and woman to the courseness of existence. I am beginning to see that we are living a dark period of history. Let me give three examples that depress me, all come from today's edition of the New York Times: "Washington Churches Eye a Prize: The Obamas," "In Another Recession Sign, an Uptick in Vasectomies" and "Spain Steps Into Battle With Itself on Abortion." For me, these articles show to what extent that many people are willing to go to reduce the experience of faith to a commodity, life to a matter of "rights and progressivity" and the sexual intercourse to economy and self-centeredness. All three articles strike me as examples of desperation because know of them really demonstrate to me that following Christ (or any religious sensibility) means anything. Has truth, the dignity of human life and a healthy sexuality been totally replaced by radical subjectivity, nihilism and hedonism?

The Spanish interlocutors make the claim of trying to change the current abortion law as a matter of humanity suggesting that not to change the law is to live in a barbourous society. It's quite the opposite: you're humanity is diminished by acting selfishly and cruelly toward the unborn. How is killing the unborn giving a woman a dignified humanity when abortion is part of the matrix? The abortion proponents argue that they want a state that is "progressive," like other Western nations except Ireland. To what are they progressing? Death? A culture where death is the hallmark and not life.

On Holy Saturday I have to say that our society is leaping toward madness and not to great freedom and certainly not toward communion with God and life with Him.

There was a day when Nietzsche was right: God was dead, the Word was not heard in the world, the body was interred and the tomb sealed up, the soul descended into the bottomless abyss of Sheol." This descent of Jesus into the kingdom of the dead "was part of his abasement even if (as St. John admits of the Cross) this supreme abasement is already surrounded by the thunderbolts of Easter night. In fact, did not the very descent to hell bring redemption to the souls there?" It prolonged in some manner the cry from the Cross: Why have you abandoned me? "Nobody could ever shout that cry from a deeper abyss than did he whose life was to be perpetually born of the Father."

But there remains the imitation of Christ. There is a participation, not only sacramental, but contemplative in his mystery. There is an experience of the abandonment on the Cross and the descent into hell, and experience of the poena damni. There is the crushing feeling of the "ever greater dissimilarity" of God in the resemblance, however great, between him and the creature; there is the passage through death and darkness, the stepping through "the somber door". In conformity to the mission he has received, the prayerful man then experiences the feeling that "God is dead for him". And this is a gift of Christian grace -- but one receives it unawares. The lived and felt faith, charity, and hope rise above the soul to an inaccessible place, to God. From then on it is "in nakedness, poverty and humiliation" that the soul cries out to him.

Those who have experienced such states afterwards, more often than not, in their humility, see nothing in them but a personal purification. True to his doctrine which refuses to separate charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit, the ecclesial mission, and individual mysticism, von Balthasar discerns in it essentially this "Holy Saturday of contemplation" by which the Betrothed, in some chosen few of her members, is made to participate more closely in the redemption wrought by the Spouse. We have arrived at a time in history when human consciousness, enlarged and deepened by Christianity, inclines more and more to this interpretation.

The somber experience of Holy Saturday is the price to be paid for the dawn of the new spring of hope, this spring which has been "canonized in the rose garden of Lisieux": "is it not the beginning of a new creation? The magic of Holy Saturday ... Deep cave from which the water of life escapes."

Reading so many passages where this theme is taken up, we discern a distress, a solitude, a night -- of the quality, in fact, as that experienced by "the Heart of the world" -- and we understand that a work that communicates so full a joy must have been conceived in that sorrow.

Cardinal Henri de Lubac on the work of Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar

Dom Elias R. Lorenzo, a monk of the Abbey of Saint Mary, has been appointed the new Prior of Sant'Anselmo in Rome, the international house of studies for Benedictines. As prior Dom Elias will be working with the Abbot Primate, Notker Wolf, as the man in charge of the daily running of the monastic community, the superior of the monks and he'll work on special canonical projects for the Benedictine Confederation, especially with the Holy See. His competence, insight and humor will be well-received in Rome as it has been at his home abbey (as I can attest) and in his other ministries.

Dom Elias succeeds Dom Michael Naughton, a monk of Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN.

May God abundantly bless Dom Elias!

On the 5th Sunday of Lent (March 29) the Charlotte diocese co-sponsored with Belmont Abbey & College the 3rd annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth. The gathering included a procession with the Eucharist around the campus, inspirational and formative talks, the sacrament of Confession, Vespers and Benediction. Bishop Peter Jugis, Abbot Placid, Dom Kieran and Dom Edward, among other monks and religious, including 2 Capuchin friars, assisted in giving a witness to the exceptional and powerful Presence of the Lord with more than 450 students from the college and across the diocese.

This terrific Eucharistic event strengthened and gave hope to the many participants. Plus, it was a spectacular sunny day. It was a keen reminder that all of life is viewed through the lens of the Eucharist.

The gaze of the Eucharistic Lord on us and us on Him is a beautiful gesture of mercy.

Read the story here.

"I called to the Lord, out of my distress,

and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou didst hear my voice. For thou didst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me; all thy waves and thy billows passed over me. Then I said, 'I am cast out from thy presence; how shall I again look upon thy holy temple?'

The waters closed in over me, the deep was round about me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet thou didst bring up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God.

When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to thee, into thy holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to thee; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!"
(Jonah 2:1-9)

There was darkness over the whole land...while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." [Luke 23:44b-46a]

But what Christ did on the Cross was in no way intended to spare us death but rather to revalue death completely. In place of the "going down into the pit" of the Old Testament, it became "being in paradise tomorrow". Instead of fearing death as the final evil and begging God for a few more years of life, as the weeping king Hezekiah does, Paul would like most of all to die immediately in order "to be with the Lord" (Phil 1:23). Together with death, life is also revalued: "If we live, we live to the Lord; if we die, we die to the Lord" (Rom 14:8).

But the issue is not only life and death but our existence before God and our being judged by him. All of us were sinners before him and worthy of condemnation. But God "made the One who knew no sin to be sin, so that we might be justified through him in God's eyes" (2 Cor 5:21).

Only God in his absolute freedom can take hold of our finite freedom from within in such a way as to give it a direction toward him, an exit to him, when it was closed in on itself. This happened in virtue of the "wonderful exchange" between Christ and us: he experiences instead of us what distance from God is, so that we may become beloved and loving children of God instead of being his "enemies" (Rom 5:10).

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky.
A horror of great darkness at broad noon -
I, only I.

Yet give not o'er
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

Christina Rossetti

It is customary to visit the special altars created for the reserved Eucharist after the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper, the birth of the holy priesthood and the giving of the Eucharist as the supreme gift Love to the Church. There we spend time in prayer for ourselves and for those we've promised to pray. Keeping watch is an act of love and penance with the goal of remaining close to the Lord. From time immemorial we learn how to keep vigil by making visits to three or seven nearby churches as a "mini-pilgrimage." Tradition tells us that Saint Philip Neri is credited with popularizing the Roman practice of a pilgrimage to seven churches to keep people attentive to the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, plus to keep them out of trouble. The point of this pious and noble exercise is to keep vigil with the Lord as the disciples tried to do so in the Garden of Gethsemani before the Lord's arrest. I will be visiting at least three perhaps seven churches. One can't always find the churches open into the night even on Holy Thursday.

Qui, pridie quam pro nostra omniumque salute pateretur, hoc est hodie, accepit panem: [Who, the day before he suffered for the salvation of us and of all -- that is, today -- he took the bread:] these words we shall pray today in the Canon of the Mass. "Hoc est hodie" ["That is, today"] - the Liturgy of Holy Thursday places the word "today" into the text of the prayer, thereby emphasizing the particular dignity of this day. It was "today" that He did this: he gave himself to us for ever in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. This "today" is first and foremost the memorial of that first Paschal event. Yet it is something more. With the Canon, we enter into this "today". Our today comes into contact with his today. He does this now. With the word "today", the Church's Liturgy wants us to give great inner attention to the mystery of this day, to the words in which it is expressed. We therefore seek to listen in a new way to the institution narrative, in the form in which the Church has formulated it, on the basis of Scripture and in contemplation of the Lord himself.

The first thing to strike us is that the institution narrative is not an independent phrase, but it starts with a relative pronoun: qui pridie. This "qui" connects the entire narrative to the preceding section of the prayer, "let it become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord." In this way, the institution narrative is linked to the preceding prayer, to the entire Canon, and it too becomes a prayer. By no means is it merely an interpolated narrative, nor is it a case of an authoritative self-standing text that actually interrupts the prayer. It is a prayer. And only in the course of the prayer is the priestly act of consecration accomplished, which becomes transformation, transubstantiation of our gifts of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. As she prays at this central moment, the Church is fully in tune with the event that took place in the Upper Room, when Jesus' action is described in the words: "gratias agens benedixit - he gave you thanks and praise". In this expression, the Roman liturgy has made two words out of the one Hebrew word berakha, which is rendered in Greek with the two terms eucharistía and eulogía. The Lord gives thanks. When we thank, we acknowledge that a certain thing is a gift that has come from another. The Lord gives thanks, and in so doing gives back to God the bread, "fruit of the earth and work of human hands", so as to receive it anew from him. Thanksgiving becomes blessing. The offering that we have placed in God's hands returns from him blessed and transformed. The Roman liturgy rightly interprets our praying at this sacred moment by means of the words: "through him, we ask you to accept and bless these gifts we offer you in sacrifice". All this lies hidden within the word "eucharistia".

How marvelous, and at the same time amazing, is this mystery! We can never meditate this reality sufficiently. Jesus, though being God, did not want to make of his divine prerogatives an exclusive possession; he did not want to use his being God, his glorious dignity and power, as an instrument of triumph and sign of distance from us. On the contrary, "he emptied himself" assuming our miserable and weak human condition --in this regard, Paul uses a quite meaningful Greek verb to indicate the kenosis, this descent of Jesus. The divine form (morphe) is hidden in Christ under the human form, namely, under our reality marked by suffering, poverty, human limitations and death. The radical and true sharing of our nature, a sharing in everything except sin, leads him to that frontier that is the sign of our finiteness  --death. But all this was not the fruit of a dark mechanism or a blind fatality: It was instead his free choice, by his generous adherence to the salvific plan of the Father. And the death which he went out to meet --adds Paul-- was that of the cross, the most humiliating and degrading that one can imagine. The Lord of the universe did all this out of love for us: out of love he willed to "empty himself" and make himself our brother; out of love he shared our condition, that of every man and every woman. In this connection, Theodoret of Cyrus, a great witness of the Eastern tradition, writes: "Being God and God by nature and having equality with God, he did not retain this as something great, as do those who have received some honor beyond their merits, but concealing his merits, he chose the most profound humility and took the form of a human being" (Commentary on the Letter to the Philippians, 2:6-7).

Pope Benedict XVI, Wednesday General Audience, 8 April 2009, excerpt

The Reverend Dom Stanley L. Jaki, O.S.B., died April 7th, in Spain after suffering a heart attack in Rome without knowing it. After arriving in Madrid to visit friends he was taken to the hospital for treatment but died days later. He was a monk and priest of the Archabbey of Saint Martin, Pannonhalma, Hungary. He entered the archabbey in 1941, professing solemn vows in 1944 and was ordained a priest in 1948. Like many other Hungarian priests, Jaki immigrated to the USA during Soviet persecution.

Father Jaki trained as a physicist and devoted his life to the history and philosophy of science and theology rather than scientific research. His intellectual work was ground breaking in connecting Catholic theology and science, and the only one to do so for many years. Jaki earned a doctorate in theology from Sant'Anselmo (Rome) in 1950 and another doctorate in (astro)physics from Fordham University in 1957. Since 1965 he has taught at Seton Hall University and honored as Distinguished Professor of Physics in 1975. After retiring he kept active by holding court, giving lectures and writing, often cantankerously.

Father Jaki was well-known for his writings on science and religion. He delievered the prestigious Gifford Lectures from 1974-1976, later published under the title of The Road of Science and the Ways to God. In 1987 Dom Stanley was award the Templeton Prize. He is considered one of the best scholars on the thought of Cardinal John Henry Newman in the U.S. His publishing record show he published 7 books and numerous articles on Newman.

"Although the world was God's creation and, as such, to be profoundly respected, the world itself possessed no intrinsic divinity," Father Thomas G. Guarino, professor of theology at Seton Hall, stated. "Father Jaki's work elucidated the notion that in understanding the very laws of the physical universe, science naturally opened out toward the affirmation of faith."

A website devoted to Father Jaki

Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, reminds us of this: 'We must observe not only the day of the Passion, but the day of the Resurrection as well. Thus, we will have a day of bitterness and a day of joy; on the one let us fast, on the other let us seek refreshment...During this Sacred Triduum...Christ suffered, rested and rose from the dead. Of that three day period he himself says: 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up'' (Epistle 23).

Our Lenten observances, indeed our whole life of faith, have been a preparation for this celebration of the Lord's Paschal Mystery, our redemption from sin. May all of us bear witness to this joy in our daily lives; not only now but all through the year. And may our celebration of the Triduum be a time to reflect on our redemption through Christ, the eternal gift to us sinners from God the Father.

In the April 13, 2009 issue of Newsweek, Jon Meacham wrote the article, "The End of Christian America," exploring the idea that we are living in a time where many of those who identified themselves as Christians are now saying that they are skeptical about religion. Some have gone beyond skepticism and rejected religion altogether. In his article Meacham points out something that I find startling indeed: since 1990 the percentage of Americans who no longer claim a religious affiliation as risen from 8 to 15%. Plus, this group of religious non-affiliated has risen in the Northeast. Is this trend pointing to a real crisis or is Meacham creating havoc for the Church? Are Americans accepting secularlity over salvation? Are Christians to blame?

Certainly, experience shows that in many places, including religious houses, the liturgical rites and preaching are often so bad that one can understand why people leave the Church. How often do we go to Church encountering an unprepared priest, altar servers with little dignity and training and the poorly proclaimed Scriptures? Never mind the foolishness that passes for adequate, never mind "superb," catechetical formation and social outreach to the poor, the sick and the elderly. Where is the formation in the faith for the adults, teens and children based on Scripture and Tradition and not some minister's ideology? Is Christ only a one-day-a week event? Let's ask a question about the credibility of the witness: do the priests really believe in Christ, sin, grace, salvation, Mary, etc? What about those who take religious vows: are they really living according to the mind of the Church AND constitutions of their particular order? The Church in recent times is famous for answering questions that are not being asked by the faithful.

If the Church wants to slow down or reverse the secularization of our culture then it needs holy and competent men and women, clergy and laity alike, who will live the faith in a serious manner. The gospel needs to be preached in such a way that is faithfully and poignantly breaks open the word of the Word AND the lives the liturgical rites. Salvation is a question of content and beauty.

Today we recall the words Jesus spoke to Judas at the Last Supper, "The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." (Matthew 26:24). Judas has become is synonymous with the act of betrayal. In the Inferno, Dante places Judas in the very lowest circle of Hell, being devoured eternally by a three-faced, bat-winged devil:

 

 

When we had gotten far enough along
that my master was pleased to let me see
the creature who was once so fair of face
he took a step aside, then brought me to a halt:
'Look there at Dis! And see the place
where you must arm yourself with fortitude.'
Then how faint and frozen I became,
reader, do not ask, for I do not write it,
since any words would fail to be enough.
It was not death, nor could one call it life.
Imagine, if you have the wit,
what I became, deprived of both.
The emperor of the woeful kingdom
rose from the ice below his breast,
and I in size am closer to a giant
than giants are when measured to his arms.
Judge, then, what the whole must be
that is proportional to such a part.
If he was fair as he is hideous now,
and raised his brow in scorn of his creator,
he is fit to be the source of every sorrow.
Oh, what a wonder it appeared to me
when I perceived three faces on his head.
The first, in front, was red in color.
Another two he had, each joined with this,
above the midpoint of each shoulder,
and all the three united at the crest.
The one on the right was a whitish yellow,
while the left-hand one was tinted like the people
living at the sources of the Nile.
Beneath each face two mighty wings emerged,
such as befit so vast a bird:
I never saw such massive sails at sea.
They were featherless and fashioned
like a bat's wings. When he flapped them,
he sent forth three separate winds,
the sources of the ice upon Cocytus.
Out of six eyes he wept and his three chins
dripped tears and drooled blood-red saliva.
With his teeth, just like a hackle
pounding flax, he champed a sinner
in each mouth, tormenting three at once.
For the one in front the gnawing was a trifle
to the clawing, for from time to time
his back was left with not a shred of skin.
'That soul up there who bears the greatest pain,'
said the master, 'is Judas Iscariot, who has
his head within and outside flails his legs.
'As for the other two, whose heads are dangling down,
Brutus is hanging from the swarthy snout --
see how he writhes and utters not a word! --
'and from the other, Cassius, so large of limb.
But night is rising in the sky. It is time
for us to leave, for we have seen it all.' (Canto XXXIV)

 

According to the pious legend, the tree upon which Judas hanged himself was the Cercis siliquastrum, also called the "Judas Tree." It is a beautiful tree, native to the Mediterranean region, which produces brilliant deep pink flowers in the spring; the flowers are said to have blushed in shame after Judas's suicide.

The Easter Message 2009

His Beatitude, Archbishop Fouad Twal
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

 

We have arrived at the doorstep of Holy Week, the great week, which is the summit of the Christian year.   During this blessed week, God gives us the grace to relive the event of our salvation: with Jesus, and in Jesus, we pass from death to life, we strip off the old man in order to clothe ourselves with the new man.  This week is the synthesis of our entire Christian life.

 

Let's be clear about this.  The account of the Passion, of the Death and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus does not just relate to historical events already completed, events that we drag out from a dusty tome in order to give pious remembrance to them, but which nonetheless remain outside of the real drama and tragedies that are being played out in our lives.  No, in these feasts we find ourselves on the inside of the drama, the same drama that is being played out within us.  We are participants in the mystery of salvation, and the mystery of salvation is accomplished in us!  This is because we recognize ourselves very well in each one of the characters of the Pascal event: in Jesus and his suffering, those same sufferings that each one of us must undergo in the course of our lives: hunger, betrayal, exhaustion, injustice... in Peter, so impulsive and generous, but ever so vulnerable; in Judas and the apostles; in Pilate and in the chief priests, who judge and strike out without mercy; in the crowd that now is cheering and then roaring in its hate; in the Virgin Mary, whose heart is pierced by a sword, but who accompanies Jesus along his way of the cross and stays by his side in the most dramatic moments in a total and confident abandonment; in the soldiers who mock him, strike him and are completely indifferent to the sufferings of the Christ; in Veronica and the other holy women who weep and attempt to assuage the sufferings of his Mother; in Simon the Cyrene and Joseph of Arimathea; in the good thief who calls on Jesus and manages, in the very last moments of his life, to snatch for himself paradise itself... In the course of our lives, we are in turn each one of these characters. 

 

But the One who attracts us most of all, who touches us, moves us and transforms what is inside of us, this is Jesus the Christ.  It is He.  During all this Holy Week, we must never allow ourselves to take our eyes off of Him... For it is towards Jesus that we have to turn our eyes and hearts "to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow [we] may attain the resurrection from the dead." (Phil 3:10-11)

 

Here we have Jesus, the Messiah, the one who we cheered so much just a few days ago on Palm Sunday, who staggers out of Pilate's house bearing upon his shoulders the heavy cross.  His path moves through those narrow, winding and steep streets of Jerusalem.  We follow this scene, but from a distance; in this way no one notices our presence... We are too afraid of ending up like him, suffering and dying.  The soldiers shout and strike the Lord in order to stir up within him the last dregs of energy that he has left.  Look, Jesus falls. To see our Lord fall, the same one who we beheld in all his glory on Mount Tabor... Three times he falls, but struggles up again and just barely manages to continue on his "via crucis."

He finally arrives at Golgotha, and there is crucified between two criminals.  Mary his mother is near him, with two other women.  John is there also. What a terrible sight.  It is too much to bear... Our hearts are torn between compassion and revulsion - compassion for the Master who suffers this martyrdom though "he has done nothing wrong."(Is 53:9)  On the contrary: "He always went about doing good."(Acts 10:38).  How things have turned around, that this Lord here, who so many times showed his power in words, lets these men have their way with him and stands there mute "like a sheep before its shearers."  This Lord here who so many times revealed his power in gestures, hangs there impotent...  We too sometimes are tempted to say with the chief priests: "Let him come down from the cross now!  Save yourself, you who saved so many others! (Mt 27:42)

 

Seeing Jesus on the cross really puts our faith to the test.  He performed so many signs during his public ministry... but this time, where is the sign?  What can be the meaning of all this? And here is Jesus shouting out in a loud voice: "My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?" (Mt 27:26) Then he expires.  He is dead.  It is finished.

Why stay here to watch this, to look upon this pitiful failure?  Let's go home.

 

Today is Holy Saturday.  It is all emptiness.  The Lord is dead.  Our fondest hopes have taken flight and departed.  We are gathered here with the apostles and their disciples, and we brood over our sadness, our disappointment but also our shame and our guilt at not having "been up to the task." The only comfort that we find in our midst comes from Mary his Mother.  She suffers, you can see that, but at the same time she is at peace.  She invites us to believe, to hope against all hope.  Jesus can neither be deceived nor deceive us.  The truth will come to light.  When?  How?  And what has all this been for?  This is the day of "why's", but still no answer comes.  Still there is Mary whose mother's heart beats with an unutterable premonition.  Mary believes with her whole heart, with her whole soul and with all her strength.  We do as she does.

 

Resurrection Sunday:  We have trouble believing what Mary Magdalene and the women have come to tell us.  They say that they have seen the Lord alive!  They say that we are to wait for him in Galilee.  Women's talk, nothing more...

And yet... And yet, if it's true...

Here are Peter and John racing to the tomb.  We follow them.  Our hearts are pounding in our chests... What has happened?  Has someone taken his corps off somewhere? The Romans? The Sanhedrin?  No, no we have an inkling that something else has happened.  The fragments and half phrases of the Lord, which were lying dormant in us, rush back to our memory. "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." (Mt 17:22)  Are not those the same words that the angels spoke to the women?  But whatever can it mean to "be raised" from the dead?  In the tomb, the corps has disappeared!  And this cannot have been a robbery since, just as the women and Mary Magdalene confirmed, everything is in its place: there is the shroud, empty on the inside, in the very same place where the corps had been lain... there is the cloth that surrounded the Lord's head, collapsed in on itself...

Could the women, then, have been telling the truth? The Lord, who was dead, could he be alive? With the eleven disciples, we hurry on to Galilee, to the mountain that Jesus mentioned.  The Lord is waiting for us in Galilee.  Galilee, our Church, our home, it is there that we performed our service; Galilee, that is the place where the Lord sent us to be joyous witnesses of His death and resurrection. 

We come to the mountain.  The Lord is there!  Yes, it is really him!  He is different and yet the same.  Yes, it is really us!  The same, and yet so different. With Thomas we cry out: "My Lord and my God!"  With Mary, we say with our whole heart: "Rabbi." Yes, Christ is risen!  He is truly risen!

The adventure now continues.  Or rather, it now begins again, all new!  For ourselves, for our country, for our Church.  Salvation has been accomplished and must be proclaimed to all men. Once again, Easter has taken place in our Churches, in our houses, in our towns and villages, in our parish communities, monasteries and convents, in our souls and our hearts, on the beautiful faces of all of our dear pilgrims and tourists.  Halleluiah rings out once again far and wide!

This is our feast!  And participating in our joy, Jesus says to each one: "I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Go in the footsteps of Christ, He is your end, your way and also your prize. Life is a journey, certainly. But it is not an uncertain journey without a fixed destiny; it leads to Christ, the end of human life and history. On this journey you will meet with him who gave his life for love, and opens to you the doors of eternal life. (Pope Benedict XVI to the Madrid youth)

The Right Reverend Dom Alban Boultwood OSB, 97, first abbot of St. Anselm's Abbey, Washington, DC, died on 25 March 2009.

 

Henry Boultwood was born in Stamford, CT, on August 17, 1911 and educated in England and Scotland. When he entered the monastery he took the name Alban and professed vows as a monk of Fort Augustus Abbey, Scotland, 1929. He graduated the University of Edinburgh with the MA in 1933. His abbot sent him prepare for priestly ordination at Sant'Anselmo's in Rome and he was ordained in 1939. At the time of his death, Dom Alban was in his 80th year as a monk and 70th year as a priest.

 

He was appointed prior in 1947 and the monks of Saint Anselm's then elected him abbot in 1961. In retirement (1975), he held the title of Titular Abbot of the Royal Abbey of Dunfermline, Scotland.

 

Abbot Alban was the author of three books: Alive to God (1964), Into His Splendid Light (1968) and Christ in Us (1982).

 

He was widely recognized as "a charming man, friendly, warm, witty, and a gifted homilist." The monks of the abbey received his body on Friday, April 3rd and the Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday the 4th. Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine.

 

Time magazine's article on Dom Alban

An interview with Dom Alban

Following the progression of saint-making is interesting, though it can be tedious. If you are interested, there is an article in the March 2009 issue of The American Benedictine Review (60:1) by Dom Oliver Raquez, OSB: "Memoirs of the Postulator for the Cause of Blessed Columba Marmion." The author takes you through Marmion's canonization process from beginning to the present including the miracles and future work that would make Blessed Columba more known.

The 40 days of Lent is leading to a dramatic climax in our liturgical imagination: the prayer, fasting, almsgiving is pointing us directly to what we've been promised and hoped for--salvation. These days of Lent offered us an entrée into the Divine Mystery and yet I fear that a great many people, including myself--may not have heard Jesus' prophetic rebuke of the Pharisees and others for their errors and for their self-righteousness and have missed the essential purpose of our Lord's sharp words. Certainly hearing Peter deny Christ three times indicates that same tendency in us to stand back from that which is life-giving. In the Scriptures we heard at Mass and in the Divine Office we hear the Lord not condemning the people for love of God's Law but calling them to follow him more closely and in doing so enter more deeply into the spirit of the Law. Christ makes it clear that living in the Kingdom of God requires us to be sacrificial: to turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel. Here is the certainty we have: to follow Christ entails self-denial and the acceptance of his cross as ours. No embrace of the cross, no life eternal.

My friend Father Michael's monastery was recently featured in the Canadian secular press in an article titled, "Cannon Street's spiritual haven." In most people's experience monasteries are unusual, never mind a monastery using the Rule of Saint Benedict and following the Orthodox Church. May God grant them many years! Have a read and don't mind the boo boos in the article...

Of that branch in ancient garden,

did thy Father make thy tree,

on that tree with thee uplifted,

let us triumph, Lord, with thee.

On that tree with thee uplifted,

let us triumph, Lord, with thee.

 

By thy words on road to passion,

Words that set thy children free,

Thou the Vine and we the branches,

let us triumph, Lord, with thee.

Thou the Vine and we the branches,

let us triumph, Lord, with thee.

 

To thy Father be all glory,

Equal glory, Lord, to thee,

By Spirit's equal glory,

let us triumph, Lord, with thee.

By Spirit's equal glory

let us triumph, Lord, with thee.

Since January 20th, we've seen the debate over the value of embryonic stem research get a boost from the President who reversed President Bush's ban on embryonic stem cell research and now a prominent medical researcher has made the claim that the stem cell debate is dead. In effect, this researcher has confirmed what other lesser known researchers have already said and what the Catholic Church has also said on this subject: the only hope to cure certain diseases is in adult stem cell research. However, the politics of the use of embryonic stem cell cuts close to home for many since the hope, albeit false hope, is place in the "new cells" which would grow into new, healthy cells and stall if not reverse medical problems and give people with chronic medical problems a new life; what the media got hoodwinked by is the prominence of likeable actors as proponents of anything that would save their lives from diminishment and death. The fact is no meaningful change in the lives who suffer with neurological diseases has happened as a result of therapies involving stem cells taken from embryos.

 

No one would in their right mind would not want to find a cure for the world's heinous diseases. Catholics affirm the beauty of life, not desire for death. To think otherwise would be barbarous. Considering the witness of Pope John Paul II who lived with Parkinson's is astonishing example of how to live and to die with complete human dignity; he was able to live with intensity because of his humanity which never in knowing that he did not make himself. That is, the pope had a radical dependence on God as maker and sustainer of the universe. But the example of John Paul is not enough to quiet the mind and the heart in the face of disease especially when it is yourself or a loved one. Many reason that it's a matter of life and death "to do everything reasonably possible" to save a person from the ill-effects of disease, or the one should say the quality of one's life and death that makes the issue heart-wrenching, even to the point using cells from aborted babies. Any thinking man or woman desires to help the vulnerable. It is, however, a question of doing right science, for the right reasons which protects all human life, including the person living with ALS and the unborn baby. The problem with embryonic stems that right science tells us, is that they come from aborted babies and there is no evidence that they would do what is purported that they would do.

 

Last week America's oracle and Obama supprter, Oprah Winfrey, had on her daily TV program Dr. Mehmet Oz and Michael J. Fox (who lives with Parkinson's) to discuss the matter of stem cell research. Tom Hoopes of the National Catholic Register writes about it. Read the article here.

 

You may also want to read a booklet title Understanding Stem Cell Research: Controversy and Promise by Dominican Father Nicanor Austriaco, PhD. The author takes the reader through the issues and clearly explains the science and hope that current research proposes.

 

Josh Brahm's essay "9 Things the Media Messed Up About the Obama Stem Cell Story" is worth reading.

Sermon on Palm Sunday

Blessed Guerric of Igny (d. ca. 1157)

 

When Jesus entered Jerusalem like a triumphant conqueror, many were astonished at the majesty of his bearing; but when a short while afterward he entered upon his passion, his appearance was ignoble, an object of derision. If today's procession and passion are considered together, in the one Jesus appears as sublime and glorious, in the other as lowly and suffering. The procession makes us think of the honor reserved for a king, whereas the passion shows us the punishment due a thief.

 

In the one Jesus is surrounded by glory and honor, in the other "he has neither dignity nor beauty." In the one his is the joy of men and women and the glory of the people, in the other "the butt of men and the laughing stock of the people." In the one he receives the acclamation: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes as the king of Israel"; in the other there are shouts that he is guilty of death and he is reviled for having set himself up as king of Israel.

 

In the procession the people meet Jesus with palm branches, in the passion people slap him in the face and strike his head with a rod. In the one they extol him with praises, in the other they heap insults upon him. In the one the people compete to lay their clothes in his path, in the other he is stripped of his own clothes. In the one he is welcomed to Jerusalem as a just king and savior, in the other he is thrown out of the city as criminal, condemned as an imposter. In the one he is mounted on an ass and accorded every mark of honor, in the other he hangs on the wood of the cross, torn by whips, pierced with wounds and abandoned by his own. If, then, we want to follow our leader without stumbling through prosperity and through adversity, let us keep our eyes upon him, honored in the procession, undergoing ignominy and suffering in the passion, yet unshakeably steadfast in all such changes of fortune.

 

Lord Jesus, you are the joy and salvation of the whole world; whether we see you seated on an ass or hanging on the cross, let each one of us bless and praise you, so that when we see you reigning on high we may praise you forever and ever, for to you belong praise and honor through all ages. Amen.

All glory, laud, and honor
to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

Thou art the King of Israel,
thou David's royal Son,
who in the Lord's Name comest,
the King and Blessed One.

The company of angels
are praising thee on high;
and mortal men and all things
created make reply.

The people of the Hebrews
with palms before thee went;
our praise and prayer and anthems
before thee we present.

To thee before thy passion
they sang their hymns of praise;
to thee, now high exalted,
our melody we raise.

Thou didst accept their praises;
accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest,
thou good and gracious King.

 

(Theodulph of Orleans (ca. 750-821), ca. 820; Trans. John Mason Neale (1818-1866), 1854)

The Sunday of the Lord's Passion is upon us. First Vesper's has me thinking of what the Christian life is all about and the horizon to which all Christians are facing: Christ fulfilling the Father's promise of life eternal. We're not talking about a fiction here, but reality.

Let God's people then recognize that they are a new creation in Christ, and with all vigilance understand by Whom they have been adopted and Whom they have adopted. Let not the things, which have been made new, return to their ancient instability; and let not him who has 'put his hand to the plough' forsake his work, but rather attend to that which he sows than look back to that which he has left behind. Let no one fall back into that from which he has risen, but, even though from bodily weakness he still languishes under certain maladies, let him urgently desire to be healed and raised up. (Saint Leo the Great, Easter Homily)

 

 

But the Son rose again! History is for us the continuity of Christ's resurrection. Every moment of history, by now, is for us the way in which the mystery of the resurrection is accomplished. And at the end of this moment, i.e., at the end of history, the world, everything, everything there is, will be convinced of the intelligence that God has chosen to manifest and the grace that binds us together with which He has filled our hearts.

Do not be afraid; let us not be afraid to serve the Lord, to serve Christ with all the possibility He has given us. (Monsignor Luigi Giussani, March 11, 2003)

One can distinguish five reasons why God allows the devil to attack us:

 

first, so that from attack and counter-attack we may become practiced in discerning good from evil;

 

second, so that our virtue may be maintained in the heat of the struggle and so be confirmed in an impregnable position;

 

third, so that as we advance in virtue we may avoid presumption and learn humility;

 

fourth, to inspire in us an unreserved hatred for evil through the experience we thus have of it;

 

fifth, and above all, that we may attain inner freedom and remain convinced both of our own weakness and of the strength of him who has come to our aid.

 

Maximus the Confessor (580-682)

Centuries on Charity 2, 67 (Sources Chrétiennes 9, p. 114)

 

(My aunt with her daughter, my cousin, Brooke, Easter 2005)

Today is the third anniversary of my Aunt Jeanne's death. Sadness is still with me and the family at her untimely death. The Mass will be offered for her tomorrow. May her soul rest in peace.

"I am the victim of violence in my nature," you say. "I love Christ, yet my nature compels me to sin."

 

If you were in fact compelled to sin, if you were the victim of violence, then you would be forgiven for it. On the other hand, if you sin through idleness, do not expect forgiveness.

 

But let us look at the question a moment to discover if we do commit sins by compulsion, under pressure of violence, rather than through idleness or serious negligence.

 

It is written: "Thou shalt not kill."

 

But who compels you to kill? Who forces you to do it? On the contrary, you have to do violence to your own nature to kill someone. Which of us would light-heartedly cut a neighbor's throat? Who would gladly stain his hands with blood? No one. So the facts are the exact opposite of your contention. To sin, you have to force yourself.

 

God has given our nature the gift of mutual love as a result of which every living creature loves its own kind, every human being loves his neighbor. Do you see? Our nature predisposes us to virtue. It is vices that are contrary to nature. If they win a victory, it is the fault of series negligence on our part.

 

And adultery, what shall we say about that? What sort of necessity drives you to that?

 

Your answer: "The tyranny of desire."

 

Why, I ask you? Can you not have intercourse with your spouse and in this way defeat that tyranny? "But I am in love someone else's spouse." In this case there is no compulsion. Love cannot be compelled. You do not love because you are forced to love: you love spontaneously, of your own free will. Sexual intercourse spontaneously, of your own free will. Sexual intercourse may be an irresistible need, but love is a free choice.

 

The conclusion is clearly apparently: virtue is consistent with our nature whereas vice is opposed to it.

 

Saint John Chrysostom

On the Letter to the Ephesians 2, 3 (PG 62, 20)

Although the life of a monk ought to have about it at all times the character of a Lenten observance, yet since few have the virtue for that, we therefore urge that during the actual days of Lent the brethren keep their lives most pure and at the same time wash away during these holy days all the negligences of other times.

And this will be worthily done if we restrain ourselves from all vices and give ourselves up to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart and to abstinence.

 

During these days, therefore, let us increase somewhat the usual burden of our service, as by private prayers and by abstinence in food and drink. Thus everyone of his own will may offer God "with joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thess. 1:6)
something above the measure required of him.

From his body, that is he may withhold some food, drink, sleep, talking and jesting; and with the joy of spiritual desire he may look forward to holy Easter. Let each one, however, suggest to his Abbot what it is that he wants to offer, and let it be done with his blessing and approval.

For anything done without the permission of the spiritual father will be imputed to presumption and vainglory and will merit no reward.

Therefore let everything be done with the Abbot's approval.

 

Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 49

O sacred head, surrounded
by crown of piercing thorn!
O bleeding head, so wounded,
reviled and put to scorn!
Our sins have marred the glory
of thy most holy face,
yet angel hosts adore thee
and tremble as they gaze

I see thy strength and vigor
all fading in the strife,
and death with cruel rigor,
bereaving thee of life;
O agony and dying!
O love to sinners free!
Jesus, all grace supplying,
O turn thy face on me.

In this thy bitter passion,
Good Shepherd, think of me
with thy most sweet compassion,
unworthy though I be:
beneath thy cross abiding
for ever would I rest,
in thy dear love confiding,
and with thy presence blest.

 

(asc. to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091-1153)

Prayers requested for the peaceful repose of the soul of Dom Germain Leo Fritz, monk of the Abbey of Saint Mary, who died today.

Why does error have a free rein and why does God allow the wicked to disturb the existence of so many people?

 

First of all, before trying to understand, we need to put ourselves in front of the incomprehensible wisdom of God. One who is firmly anchored in God does not suffer any loss, even if attacked by a thousand waves and a thousand storms. On the contrary, he emerges stronger.

 

There is a reason, however, which I can venture to suggest.

 

In the first place, scandals are permitted so that the rewards of the righteous may not be diminished. That is why God said to Job: "Do you not understand that I have treated you in this fashion so that righteousness may be made manifest?" [Job 40:8]

 

But there is a another reason why the wicked are left at large: so that they may not be deprived of the advantages of conversion from their evil ways, which certainly could not happen if they had been rendered incapable of doing evil. In this way, Saint Paul, the penitent thief, the prostitute, the tax collector and many others were saved.

 

You may speak to me about those who have been scandalized. Well and good. But I then speak to you about those who have benefited from the scandal by winning glory, and I repeat my point: the existence of careless and lazy people would not justify leaving in a state of inferiority keen and wide-awake people who are capable of richly deserving their eternal recompense. A great wrong would be done to them if they were not given the chance to strive.

 

Saint John Chrysostom

On Providence, 12, I

(SC 79, pp 183ff.)

Asia News and the Calgary Herald are reporting another Catholic bishop, Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, 74, was arrested in China.

May God grant His Eminence, Edward Michael Cardinal Egan many years.

Abundant Blessings on His Birthday

Priest, Scholar, Mentor

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the death of our beloved Pope John Paul II. His physical absence is felt but I believe that he's interceding before the throne of grace for those who ask.

 

I consider myself in the John Paul generation and I look forward to the day that the Church beatifies and canonizes him. Even though I love Pope Benedict, I still love Pope John Paul. May his memory be eternal.

 

God, Who, in Thine ineffable providence, didst will that Thy servant John Paul II should be numbered among the high priests, grant, we beseech Thee, that he, who on earth held the place of Thine only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through Christ our Lord.

 

Some newsworthy items:

 

Sophia Loren speaks about John Paul moving toward sainthood.

 

A Rabbi speaks about John Paul.

 

 A video clip on the 6pm Mass offered by Pope Benedict for Pope John Paul II.

 

A video clip on the documentation of Pope John Paul's move toward being called saint.

 

Carl Anderson reflects on his relationship with the Servant of God Pope John Paul II on this 4^th anniversary of the Pope's death.

The martyrdom of Japanese Christians in the 17th century is the subject of a film being produced by the Italian-American director Martin Scorsese. The film is based on the novel Chinmoku ("Silence") written by Japanese Catholic writer Endo Shusaku [1923-1997]. He describes the persecution suffered by Japanese Christians during Edo period, especially in the Nagasaki region. The novel, written in 1966, tells the story of a Jesuit Portuguese missionary in Japan in early 17th century, during the time of the anti-Christian persecution. The title, "Silence", harkens back to the silence of God in front of Christ's cross, and recounts the forced recantation of the faith by the missionary after enduring horrendous torture. The books of Endo Shusaku reflect his special research of Christianity in the oriental culture, and present his particular vision of human fragility, sin and grace. The announcement of the film comes shortly after the beatification of 188 Christian martyrs of that period. That event took place on the 24th of November 2008. According to Japanese bishops, this event represented a milestone for the history Japan where the Christian religion had been prohibited for centuries. Shooting will begin around the end of the year in New Zealand. (courtesy of the Jesuit Press)

Only a few months after the 12th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church (in Italian now), Vatican Radio hosted the book launch of The Word in words: From Biblicism to the realism of the faith. Written by Monsignor Lorenzo Leuzzi, director of the Office for Pastoral Care of Universities of the vicariate of Rome, the book offers a reflection on theme of the synod, with special focus on Pope Benedict XVI's four speeches.

"The most important thing is to help the Church rediscover the presence of the Word -- to see that the Church is not the only place Scripture is to be read, but is the place where man can truly find God through Scripture in a greater experience. Because the Word is not just in the Scriptures, but the Word is present in history."

"I'm happy to acknowledge with gratitude that there are many young people who, through the Bible, deepen their faith in God -- One in Three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- because in the words of the Bible they discover the Word that is Jesus Christ, who leads us to adore God the Father, with the grace that the Holy Spirit offers us in abundance."

 

A video clip book launch

The Italian interview by Vatican Radio with Monsignor Lorenzo Leuzzi

This new book, Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II's Theology of the Body, due to be released on April 14, discusses John Paul II's theology of the body and the meaning of human love. This interview appeared in the April 2009 issue of Columbia magazine, the organ of communication of the Knights of Columbus. I am grateful for the opportunity to re-publish it here.

 

By the Columbia Staff

 

From 1979 to 1984, Pope John Paul II delivered 129 Wednesday audiences in which he presented a vision of the human person, created as a unity of body and soul, and the vocation of every person to love. The pope's catechesis, which has become known as the "theology of the body," is considered by many to be revolutionary, as it develops profound truths about man's most basic experiences -- who we are and who we were created to be.

 

A new book about the theology of the body, which is being published this month, was co-authored by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson and Father José Granados, assistant professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Titled Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II's Theology of the Body (Doubleday), the book sheds light on the significance and implications of the pope's insights. Columbia spoke with Supreme Knight Anderson and Father Granados about their new book.

 

Columbia: The word "theology," for many, denotes abstract ideas about God. What, then, does Pope John Paul II mean by the phrase "theology of the body," which may sound radical or even contradictory?

 

Father Granados: Theology does not only deal with our questions about God; it deals mainly with God's word to us -- that is, the way he talks with us and tells us about himself and his love for us. For theology, the Incarnation is central, this event in which God himself comes to meet us and becomes visible by assuming a human body. Because of the Incarnation, the body enters into the realm of theology. When the Word became flesh, God made clear to us that the body has a language able to talk about God and about the way he calls us to love him and each other.

 

Anderson: This is precisely why we wrote Called to Love -- to bring theology out of the realm of "abstract ideas about God" and show just how personal the pope's vision is for each of us. We need always to remember that John Paul II throughout his priestly ministry remained totally committed to the care of married couples and the family. The theology of the body is a key element of his pastoral approach.

 

Central to John Paul II's insights is the concept of the communion of persons, which he sees as a reflection of the Trinity. In what way does the pope develop the traditional doctrine?

 

Father Granados: The good news of Christianity is that God is love, a communion of persons in which the Father gives himself totally to the Son in the union of the Holy Spirit. John Paul II has developed an understanding of the human person in the light of this Trinitarian love. Human love, and particularly the love of the family -- between husband and wife, parent and child, brothers and sisters -- is the mirror in which God's love shines in the world, and man is able to share in it. John Paul II has taken this central theme of the tradition and has interpreted, in this light, the whole of man's vocation and destiny.

 

Anderson: This is also an important concept for the work of the Knights of Columbus since our Order is based upon the principles of charity, unity and fraternity. We might say that this is how Father McGivney chose to speak about the reality of a "communion of persons" in a very practical way more than a century ago.

 

What might people gain from studying the theology of the body? What inspired you to write this book?

 

Father Granados: The aim of this book is to help the reader discover the great vocation to which God calls him: a vocation to love. We often live unaware of this great call to love and thus are unable to give an answer to it. Because of this, our lives risk being wasted, without attaining their fulfillment. Through this book, we would like to reawaken the reader to the great news of his existence, to the wonder of God's original plan for him. This means that the theology of the body is not only a teaching about human sexuality, but it also contains a whole understanding of the human person and of the world. In fact, John Paul II's aim is to give an account of the whole of reality in terms of love.

 

Anderson: For me, Called to Love was a way to deepen a discussion begun in my earlier book, A Civilization of Love, by showing how through the theology of the body John Paul II explained every person's vocation to love. This, in turn, helps us understand better our vocation within marriage, within our family and within the world.

 

Even before becoming Pope John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla had decades of pastoral experience and wrote on matters related to marriage and family. Why is the family so important, and what does the theology of the body teach us about the nature of human love?

 

Father Granados: According to John Paul II, the family is the place where we discover who we are. The pope speaks in this regard of the genealogy of the person. Our identity as human persons is formed in the family. The fact that we are children of our   parents, for example, is not something accidental, but constitutes a central part of our being. The same is true for a parent; it is not just that a person has a child, but that he is a father or mother. In the family, we understand that we come from another as children and are called to become spouses and parents. In other words, one's life is defined by an original love that is first received, as a child, and then given to another in order to be fruitful.

 

Anderson: We can see from this why John Paul II believed that the family is the central place of encounter between Christianity and contemporary society. If we do not understand our lives as spouses and parents in a profoundly Christian way, it is very difficult to live a Christian life in today's world. But John Paul II's insight is more profound: By understanding our lives as spouses and parents as God intended, we learn how to live a Christian life in a more authentic way. This is true even for those who never marry.

 

Beginning with man's "original experiences" in the first chapters of Genesis, the catechesis on the theology of the body is, in a way, a Scriptural commentary about human nature. What role does Christian revelation play in understanding who we are? Can we explain John Paul II's insights in secular terms?

 

Father Granados: Modern man suffers from a crisis of identity. We need to know who we are and what our path in life is. In the book of Genesis, John Paul II saw the genetic code of our identity as human beings. For instance, the pope talks about an original solitude: Adam realizes in the garden that he is alone. This experience is interpreted in the light of man's relationship with the Creator, the only one who fulfills our expectations and desires. This means that our identity is always constituted before the mystery of God, as creatures who come from him.

 

John Paul II then adds the experience of unity: We only know who we are and how to reach God when we encounter another person through love. Precisely because the pope starts with an analysis of human experience, the theology of the body is universal and refers not just to Christians. Every human being asks himself about the meaning of life and how to find fulfillment. The theology of the body answers these questions in terms of love.

 

The book is being released one year after Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States. How do the teachings of John Paul II relate to those of Benedict?

 

Father Granados: At the beginning of his pontificate, Benedict said that he did not want to write much, because he conceived his mission as making John Paul II's great work better known. In fact, Benedict's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) was a continuation of John Paul II's work on love. Like his predecessor, Benedict takes as his point of departure the way Christ reveals to man his own vocation. In Deus Caritas Est, he writes that in order to give a good definition of love, we will need to start by looking at the Crucified one (12). It is at the foot of the Cross that we learn what love is all about.

 

Anderson: This was the central pastoral vision of the Second Vatican Council. John Paul II and Benedict XVI are popes whose great mission is the renewal of the Church sought by the Council. Both popes have sought to do this by seeing in Christ the revelation of God's love, which makes us who we are and sets before us a way of living to which we are called.

In early February, I mentioned the notion, the desire, perhaps even the ministry women can do for the spiritual wellbeing of priests. It is an idea that is growing in the Church and yet its importance is not being recognized by many bishops. However, Bishop Edward Slattery, bishop of Tulsa, inaugurated a work of spiritual maternity for priests in the Tulsa diocese on March 24th. The good part of this work is the on-going formation. Father Mark Kirby writes about it on his blog.

Daily we pray for the beatification of the Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus. His cause for canonization has been advanced because we are convinced he deeply contemplated the face of Christ and truly knew the Lord by entering into his sacrifice of love. In imitation of the Lord who came 'not to be served but to serve,' Father McGivney poured out his life, "in service to one, in service to all." He was that priestly grain of wheat, which, like the Lord died and was buried, and then in the power of the Holy Spirit produced abundant fruit.

 

By being with his people in their need - the people of this very parish [St. Mary's Church, New Haven, CT] - Father McGivney followed Christ; where Christ was, there was Father McGivney.

 

Our founder saw Christ in the multitudes that packed this Church each Sunday, and especially in the hardworking men whose faith he strove to bolster. He found Christ in families bereft by the death of husbands and fathers and indeed in a man condemned to die.

 

He sought the Lord in the lay leadership he raised up in the basement of this Church, men to whom he entrusted his fledgling organization conceived in the genius of holiness. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Father McGivney sought to write the law of love on the hearts of those first Knights of Columbus by creating an Order whose first and more enduring principle was charity. His love for Christ, and for his Church, and for the beloved Knights of Columbus did not diminish when be moved to Thomaston to serve as a pastor. He was merely 38 years of age when he died having poured out his life in acts of love for his people that replicated the mystery of Christ's sacrificial love that he celebrated each day in the Mass.

 

This is an excerpt of Bishop William A. Lori's homily from the March 29th Founders' Day Mass, Saint Mary's New Haven, Connecticut. Bishop Lori is the Bishop of Bridgeport and the Supreme Chaplain for the Knights.

Saint Augustine tells us to have "but one heart and soul in God" with our voices in unison. And so pray together with the Pope for the following intentions:

 

The general intention

That the Lord may bless farmers' work with an abundant harvest and sensitize the richer populations to the drama of hunger in the world.

 

The mission intention

That the Christians who operate in the territories where the conditions of the poor, the weak and the women and children are most tragic, may be signs of hope, thanks to their courageous testimony to the Gospel of solidarity and love.