Paul Zalonski: December 2010 Archives

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As Father Julián Carrón, head of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation (CL) suggested at a meeting with CL leaders this summer in La Thuile (Italy): "You must take the initiative that your life be pervaded by God because the substance of our happiness is this infinite enormous Love  which inclined itself over our nothingness."

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There were innocent children slain instead of Christ, by a wicked ruler. Even the nursing babes were put to death. Spotless, they follow the Lamb Himself, and say forever: 

Glory be to You, O Lord!

The worship of the Triune God is our single most important work. No other work of the faithful, laity and clergy alike, is equal to praise of God through the sacred Liturgy and personal prayer. Jason Horowitz of The Washington Post published an article on December 25, 2010, "Pope's master of liturgy helps Benedict restore traditions." Very interesting indeed. I, for one, am very grateful to Monsignor Guido Marini for the hard work he's done in helping the Church pray more authentically, particularly at the Liturgy celebrated by the Supreme Pontiff. A native of Genoa, born in 1965, Monsignor Marini is the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, a position he's had since October 1, 2007. In a previous incarnation Marini served Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi (now archbishop of Milan) and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB, (now Secretary of State), both former archbishops of Genoa. He earned a doctorate in the psychology of communication and also holds the duel doctorate in canon and civil law.

In Rome on a rainy Christmas Eve, Pope Benedict XVI followed a procession of Swiss guards, bishops and priests down the central nave of St. Peter's Basilica to celebrate midnight Mass before dignitaries and a global television audience.

And Monsignor Guido Marini, as always, followed the pope.

A tall, reed-thin cleric with a receding hairline and wire-framed glasses, Marini, 45, perched behind the pope's left shoulder, bowed with him at the altar and adjusted the pontiff's lush robes. As Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, he shadows the pope's every move and makes sure that every candle, Gregorian chant and gilded vestment is exactly as he, the pope and God intended it to be.

Earlier today the Paul VI Audience Hall was the setting for lunch with 250 of Rome's economically and socially challenged people with Pope Benedict XVI. For him, it was an opportunity to meet Christ in brothers and sisters. The world, of course, is more interested in knowing what the papal guests ate. The newswires report that lasagna, veal and cake were on the menu. The Pope's friends for lunch are people who interface on a daily basis with the Missionaries of Charity, the group of sisters founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Blessed Teresa's 100th birthday is this year and the Pope wanted to acknowledge the greatness of the woman who focused our attention to those most loved by God and despised by the world.

Dear friends,

I'm very happy to be here today with you, and I extend warm greetings to the Reverend Mother General of the Missionaries of Charity, to the priests, sisters, contemplative brothers and all of you here to enjoy this brotherly moment together.

This mosaic of the Holy Family is located in the Chapel at the Saint Peter Canisius, the Jesuit House of Writers located on the Borgo Spirito Santo, Rome. The mosaic is by Father Mark Rupnik, S.J. and the artisans of the Centro Alleti (Rome) December 23, 2007. Father Rupnik inspiration were the Contemplations on the Incarnation and the Nativity from Saint Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises.

In the Exercises we read about the Nativity. "The first point is [for me] to see the persons, that is, to see our Lady, and Joseph, and the servant girl (the ancilla, the handmaid), and the infant Jesus after he is born, making myself a poor little fellow and unworthy little slave boy, looking at them, contemplating them, and serving them in their needs as if I were there present, with all possible respect and reverence." 

A version of Father Rupnik's Holy Family mosaic is found in the Holy Family Chapel at the Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council, New Haven, Connecticut. 

Father Julián Carrón, the head of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, gave this message for Christmas. He writes from Milan, Italy.

In the mystery of the Incarnation, man and history

"That Christianity gives joy and breadth is also a thread that runs through my whole life. Ultimately someone who is always only in opposition could probably not endure life at all" (Light of the World, part 1). These words of Benedict XVI challenge us to ask ourselves what it means to be Christians today. Continuing to believe simply out of devotion, habit, or tradition, withdrawing into one's shell, does not meet the challenge. Similarly, reacting strongly and going on the offensive in order to recover lost territory is insufficient; the Pope even says that it would be unendurable.  Neither path -withdrawing from the world or opposing it- are capable of arousing interest in Christianity, because neither respects what will always be the canon of the Christian announcement: the Gospel. Jesus entered the world with a capacity to attract that fascinated the people of His time. As Péguy said, "He did not waste His years groaning and demanding explanations of the wickedness of the times. He cut through ... making Christianity." Christ introduced into history a human presence so fascinating that anyone who ran into it had to take it into consideration, had to reject it or accept it. No one was left indifferent.

20 December 2010

It gives me great pleasure to be here with you, dear Members of the College of Cardinals and Representatives of the Roman Curia and the Governatorato, for this traditional gathering. I extend a cordial greeting to each one of you, beginning with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, whom I thank for his sentiments of devotion and communion and for the warm good wishes that he expressed to me on behalf of all of you. Prope est jam Dominus, venite, adoremus! As one family let us contemplate the mystery of Emmanuel, God-with-us, as the Cardinal Dean has said. I gladly reciprocate his good wishes and I would like to thank all of you most sincerely, including the Papal Representatives all over the world, for the able and generous contribution that each of you makes to the Vicar of Christ and to the Church.

Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni. Repeatedly during the season of Advent the Church's liturgy prays in these or similar words. They are invocations that were probably formulated as the Roman Empire was in decline. The disintegration of the key principles of law and of the fundamental moral attitudes underpinning them burst open the dams which until that time had protected peaceful coexistence among peoples. The sun was setting over an entire world. Frequent natural disasters further increased this sense of insecurity. There was no power in sight that could put a stop to this decline. All the more insistent, then, was the invocation of the power of God: the plea that he might come and protect his people from all these threats.

Earlier today at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI re-opened the Apostolic Library following a three year, 11.5 million dollar renovation. The Library's more modern work began with Pope Nicholas V providing space for Latin, Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, updated its climate controls, security and fixed structural problems. The Pope spent an hour exploring the library. In the Pope's mind, the Library is a crucial tool in his ministry as the successor of Saint Peter and the proclamation of the Kingdom of God on earth because it takes seriously humanity and the human search for God. The Vatican's Library is said to have 150 thousand manuscripts, a million printed books, 300,00 coins and medals and more than a 100 thousand prints and engravings. Some papal thoughts of November 9, 2010 follow:

Eminent place of the historical memory of the universal Church, in which are kept venerable testimonies of the handwritten tradition of the Bible, the Vatican Library is but another reason to be the object of the care and concern of the Popes. From its origins it conserves the unmistakable, truly "catholic," universal openness to everything that humanity has produced in the course of the centuries that is beautiful, good, noble, worthy (cf. Philippians 4:8); the breadth of mind with which in time it gathered the loftiest fruits of human thought and culture, from antiquity to the Medieval age, from the modern era to the 20th century. Nothing of all that is truly human is foreign to the Church, which because of this has always sought, gathered, conserved, with a continuity that few equal, the best results of men of rising above the purely material toward the search, aware or unaware, of the Truth.

O Sapinetia quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter sauviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Wisdom, you came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and reached from end to end, and disposed of all things sweetly and mightly: come and teach us the way of prudence! 

You can hear the Great O Antiphons here...

I absolutely love this part of Advent as our liturgical sensibility starts to be centrally focussed on the birth of the Savior, Emmanuel. At Vespers the antiphon for the Magnificat hymn in the Divine Office shows us  the solemnity of the next days. The first antiphon is noted above in Latin and in English. Each of the antiphons appeals to the Old Testament types given to tell of the coming of the Messiah. The OT typology indicates the new dispensation of grace. Today, we ask for a new sense of prudence rooted in Christ.

And NOW we are able to sing the famous Advent hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It is only tonight that singing the hymn makes any real sense as opposed to singing it when Advent begins, a common mistake.

I was reading a bit on Advent in Father Pius Parsch's The Church's Year of Grace:

"Come, teach us the way of prudence! What an all-embracing petition! Make us perfect Christians, Christians who are wholly penetrated --mind, will, and emotions-- with the leaven of Christianity. Make us true Christian personalities who combine strength  with gentleness. Make us strong in battle against hell, the world and self; make us glow with the love of God and neighbor! Enable us to show virile courage, and heroism unto martyrdom. Enable us to show the virgin gentleness and sweetness of a bride. In this sense we pray, "Thy kingdom come!" All this is part of our yearning plea, Come! teach us the way of prudence.

The Byzantine Church honors many Old Testament prophets and holy people that the Church in the West recognizes but does not commemorate in the sacred Liturgy, though the Roman Martyrology noted the holy youths yesterday. I actually think we ought to honor the OT figures as saints in our Liturgy, but greater minds will have to make that decision. Being faithful to the Divine Office you'll recall that we pray the Canticle of the Three Youths (Daniel 3:57-88; 56) at Lauds at Sunday I. The pertinent section of the canticle follows:

This is a must see video on the life of the Canons of Klosterneuburg, some of whom are moving to the Rockville Centre in the Spring 2011. The producer of the video, Jason Fudge, did a terrific job in making "Life Around the Collar."

The Canons Regular of St. Augustine of the Klosterneuburg is one of the oldest Latin Rite orders. The canons live together in community and take three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. Because of this, many times they are confused with monks who live a cloistered, contemplative life. However, the canonical life is clerical and engages in public ministry of liturgy and sacraments for those who visit their churches.

As one of Austria's oldest and most historically important orders, the order has been traditionally Austrian. However in the last 20 years, people outside of Austria have decided to take the solemn vow to become a canon at the monastery.

For almost 900 years a monastery in Austria has been devoted to preserving a religious life, culture and science. The origin dates back to Margrave Leopold III when he founded the monastery in 1114. In 1133, the Canons Regular of St. Augustine were summoned to develop the monastery. Alongside the canons' devotion to religion, they also viewed it their duty to preserve culture and art. Since its foundation, the monastery has grown to be one of the wealthiest monasteries and owns the largest private scholarly library in the country.

Eternal Father, we place before you the project of forming the Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. We thank you for this initiative of Pope Benedict XVI, and we ask that, through the Holy Spirit, the Ordinariates may become:

families of charity, peace and the service of the poor, centres for Christian unity and reconciliation, communities that welcome and evangelize, teaching the Faith in all its fullness, celebrating the liturgy and sacraments with prayerful reverence and maintaining a distinctive patrimony of Christian faith and culture.

Drawing on that heritage we pray:

Go before us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works, begun, continued and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life; though Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Catholic Church in Ireland is facing what we in the USA continue to face and the Church in parts of the world also face or will face: sin. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, is working overtime to renew himself and the Church he leads to a deeper contrition and to a renewed sense of mission as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Like Saint John the Baptist, Archbishop Martin tells us clearly that self-centeredness and arrogance are not legitimate virtues for Catholics to allow to dwell in the heart and in the way one acts. What the Archbishop says about his Church can be said of us personally, and the Church in the USA. Time to change!!!! As the Baptist says, "I must decrease and He --Jesus-- must increase.

The Gospel of this morning's Mass recalls that great figure: John the Baptist. John's task was to announce the coming of Jesus. He was called to reawaken a sense of expectation among a people that had grown tired and distant from God. He was called to bring renewal to institutional expressions of religion which, at the time, had so often become fossilised into mere formulae or external ritual. John's work was extraordinary. He attracted thousands to come out into the desert to see him.  He wrought conversion on a vast scale.

John was a man who stood out. His strange dress - the wild camel hair and the leather girdle - was not chosen as a publicity gimmick or a trademark.  His message was one that spoke of rising above conventional ways of thinking, conventional expectations and attitudes.  He shunned the external amenities of a comfortable life because he wanted to show his absolute dependence on God. His detachment from life's comforts gave him the freedom to truly recognise the message of Jesus.

The figure of John serves as a warning to us today, to all believers, to the Church and to Church organizations of every age of our need to draw our strength from Christ alone, rather than from identifying with the cultural patterns and fashions of the day, which in any case come and go.

Pope Benedict visits a parish in his diocese a few times a year as any good bishop would do. Yesterday, Gaudete Sunday, he visited the parish community of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Here are few paragraphs of the Pope's homily.

Together with all of you I admire this new church and the parish buildings and with my presence I desire to encourage you to realize in an ever better way the Church of living stones that you yourselves are. I know the many and significant efforts at evangelization that you are engaged in. I exhort all of the faithful to make your own contribution to the building up of the community, in particular in the field of catechesis, the liturgy and charity -- pillars of the Christian life -- in communion with the whole Diocese of Rome. No community can live as a cell that is isolated from the diocesan context; it must rather be a living expression of the beauty of the Church that, under the bishop's leadership -- and in the parish, under the pastor's leadership -- walks in communion toward the Kingdom of Heaven.

In your patience, O Lucy, you possessed your soul; you have hated the things of this world, O bride of Christ, and so received glory among the angels; you vanquished the adversary, O martyr, with your own blood.

(Magnificat Antiphon, First Vespers of St. Lucy)

Today is a good day to remember in prayer before Saint Lucy the people of Sicily, those who live with blindness, diseases of the eye, salesmen and for my friend and seminarian Ken Dagliere on his birthday.

Since the beginning of Benedictine monasticism monks and nuns have written original works of art that were used in the monastery library or assisting the praying community. Some of the monks and nuns copied existing manuscripts in order to have copies of a text in their own monastery or to send to other people. The Benedictine way of life creates new things and it preserves others. Kindles and iPads are somewhat foreign concepts in a culture that's manual, personal and original. But modern means ought not be totally dismissed as incongruent to the old ways of doing things.

The monks of Saint John's Abbey and University have commissioned the Saint John's Bible, the first handwritten, Illuminated Bible, the first work of this type in 500 years, that is, since the advent of the printing press. Certainly, the monks are leaving their mark on Catholic culture in the US for centuries to come. The artists commenced in 1998 with the idea of igniting the theological, liturgical and spiritual imagination of all people. The Saint John's Bible illuminates the Word of God for the 21st century.

The dimensions of Saint John's Bible is a manuscript that stands 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide when open. The head calligrapher is Donald Jackson, the calligrapher to Queen Elizabeth II. Jackson proposed the idea to Benedictine Father Eric Hollas who then waited three months before proposing the idea to Abbot John and the monks of Saint John's. It's written on vellum, using quills, natural hand-made inks, hand-ground pigments and gold leaf while incorporating various 21st century themes, images and technology. Artwork includes images of the World Trade Center towers, ashen skulls recalling the Cambodian killing fields, flora and fauna of Minnesota

On April 24, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI received the Books of Wisdom literature of the Saint John Bible and said it was  "a work of art, a great work of art" and w "work for eternity."

More info on the Bible project can be seen here.

Portions of the Saint John's Bible is on display at The Church of Saint Paul the Apostle (9th Avenue & West 59th Street, NYC) until December 17.

Pope Benedict made the annual visit to Spain's Square, the Spanish Steps as it's known, to lay a wreathe at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to offer a prayer of filial devotion and to encourage the faithful in our faith. His address follows:

Also this year we have made an appointment here, in Piazza di Spagna, to render homage to the Immaculate Virgin, on the occasion of her solemn feast. To all of you, who have come in great numbers, as well as all those taking part through radio and television, I address my cordial greeting. We are gathered around this historic monument, which today is all surrounded by flowers, sign of the love and devotion of the Roman people for the Mother of Jesus. And the most beautiful gift, and most pleasing to her, that we offer is our prayer, the one we bear in our hearts and which we entrust to her intercession. They are invocations of gratitude and supplication: of gratitude for the gift of faith and for all the good that we receive daily from God; and supplication for our different needs, for the family, health, work, for every difficulty that life has us encounter.

This prayer of consecration was written by a friend of mine, Father Mark. As he notes, "and may be helpful when one experiences a need to entrust particular souls in difficulty to the Immaculate Conception. As he notes, when a priest prays it, he may want to don the stole and pray it before a blessed image of the Most Holy Virgin. This intercessory consecration is appropriate for the unbinding and healing of situations marked by habitual sin and moral suffering. The Immaculate Virgin Mary is ever-ready to intervene in the lives of her children. She is the Mother of Mercy and the Mediatrix of All Graces."

In the name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Most holy Virgin Mary, -- thou whom the FATHER didst preserve from the first instant of thy conception from all evil and from the least shadow of sin,
-- thou whom the Precious Blood of JESUS didst render immaculate and all-beautiful, even before that same Blood was formed in thy virginal womb and poured out upon the altar of the Cross,
-- thou whom the HOLY GHOST didst fill full with every grace in view of the glorious motherhood of the Son of God for which thou wast created, -- thou art she who crusheth the head of the ancient serpent, thou art she who alone overcometh the evil that is in us and around us.

To thee, O Mary, thy Son hath entrusted the liberation of souls enchained by sin, the healing of wounded souls, and the sanctification of souls who have suffered evil's worst ravages.

Thou hast only to open thy immaculate hands over them, and they are shot through with the rays of thy purity. Through thee, entereth the light to shine in the darkest places. Through thee, souls are washed in a downpour of graces. Through thee, the Holy Spirit succoureth the weakest souls and giveth to the sterile a wonderful fecundity.

The blogger at "The Hermeneutic of Continuity," Father Tim Finigan, posted a YouTube video clip of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina showing some rare footage. It is a very delightful video of the saint with his Capuchin brothers.  

Father Tim notes that "At the end, they are obviously teasing him about the camera and he hits the cameraman with his cincture. We see him in the refectory and in the Church, and there are scenes of his brothers dealing with the massive postbag which he generated." Finigan also notes the footage of Saint Pio celebrating the Mass. One thing I notice is that the Capuchin priests all cover their hoods when vested for Mass -as they are supposed to do, too often covering the hood is not done not only by Franciscans but the Dominicans, too; the acolyte serves the Mass with a surplice and hood uncovered.

Watch the rare footage of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

The patristic reading in the Office of Readings (in the Divine Office) there is a beautiful letter from Saint Ambrose about governance and the use of words. Wouldn't be good to heed Ambrose's exhortation about relying on the guidance of the Church as the surest sign of God's faithfulness, in keeping our words clean, reflective and full of meaning? Ambrose's letter bears thinking about today. Let us keep in prayer today the Church in which Ambrose lived and worked, the Archdiocese of Milan.

You have entered upon the office of bishop. Sitting at the helm of the Church, you pilot the ship against the waves. Take firm hold of the rudder of faith so that the severe storms of this world cannot disturb you. The sea is mighty and vast, but do not be afraid, for as Scripture says: he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.

The Church of the Lord is built upon the rock of the apostles among so many dangers in the world; it therefore remains unmoved. The Church's foundation is unshakeable and firm against the assaults of the raging sea. Waves lash at the Church but do not shatter it. Although the elements of this world constantly beat upon the Church with crashing sounds, the Church possesses the safest harbor of salvation for all in distress. Although the Church is tossed about on the sea, it rides easily on rivers, especially those rivers that Scripture speaks of: The rivers have lifted up their voice. These are the rivers flowing from the heart of the man who is given drink by Christ and who receives from the Spirit of God. When these rivers overflow with the grace of the Spirit, they lift up their voice.

At 7:30 this morning in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI offered the Sacrifice of the Mass in the Paoline Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, for peaceful repose of the soul of Manuela Camagni, the Memor Domini who was a part of the Papal Family who died November 24 as a consequence of being hit by a car.
 It is not a frequent occurrence that we hear much of the inner life of the Apostolic Household and equally little is revealed about the consecrated lay people who make up the Memores Domini community of Communion & Liberation. Plus, Manuela's death, for some reason, has had interesting affect on me, not only because I am a member of the Fraternity of Communion & Liberation but because of the recorded witness of Manuela herself, and how Manuela affected the Holy Father and those with whom he lives. What follows is Pope Benedict's homily:

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

In the last days of her life, our dear Manuela used to talk about the fact that on November 29 she would have belonged to the community of Memores Domini for thirty years. And she said that with a great joy, getting ready - such was the impression - for an interior feast celebrating her path of thirty years towards the Lord, in communion with the Lord's friends. But the feast was different from what was expected: precisely on November 29 we took her to the cemetery, we sang asking for the Angels to accompany her to Heaven, we guided her to the ultimate feast, to God's great feast, to the Lamb's Wedding. Thirty years walking towards the Lord, entering the Lord's feast. Manuela was a "wise, prudent virgin," she had oil in her lamp, the oil of faith, a lived faith, a faith nourished by prayer, by a dialogue with the Lord, by her meditation on the Word of God, by communion in her friendship with Christ. And this faith was hope, wisdom, it was certainty that faith opens up to the real future. And faith was charity, it was giving herself for the others, it was living in the service of the Lord for the others. I, personally, must thank for her availability to put her energies at work in my house, with this spirit of charity and of hope that comes from faith.

She entered the Lord's feast as a prudent and wise virgin because she lived not in the superficiality of those who forget the greatness of our vocation, but in the great expectation of the eternal life; so she was ready when the Lord came.

La Civiltà Cattolica, the academic periodical edited by the Society of Jesus but vetted by the Secretary of State of His Holiness, will publish Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta's essay, "The Influence of Cardinal Ratzinger in the Revision of the Canonical Criminal Justice System."

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, 59, is Spanish, ordained for the Prelature of the Holy Cross. Arrieta earned a doctorate in civil and canon law and served as Dead of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. (Rome) Moreover, he was Dean of the Institute of Canon Law of Saint Pius X (Venice). At the service of the Church, Arrieta was a canon prelate of the Apostolic Penitentiary and legal secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Since 2007, he's been the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and ordained bishop in 2008.

In the coming weeks, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts will distribute to its Members and Consultors the draft of a document containing suggestions for the revision of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, the basis of the Church's penal law system. For almost two years a commission of experts in penal law has been re-examining the text promulgated in 1983, taking into account the needs that have emerged in subsequent years. The aim is to maintain the general plan and the existing numbering of the canons, while revising some of the decisions taken at the time, which with hindsight can be seen to be insufficient.

I am happy to be in Astana, capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, this noble and vast country located in the heart of the Eurasian territory. I wish to express my profound joy at being able to visit your Cathedral of the Assumption, recently opened for worship. I greet everyone with affection, beginning with His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander and, while I thank him for his fraternal reception, I bring to him and to all of you the cordial greeting of the Holy Father Benedict XVI, praying that it be transmitted to His Holiness Kirill, patriarch of Moscow and All Russias. I then greet the other religious (and civil) authorities, the priests, deacons and faithful of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan. May this fraternal meeting of ours inspire a renewed impetus to join forces, so that in a not distant future we, the disciples of Christ, can proclaim with one voice and one heart the Gospel, message of hope for the whole of humanity.