Author: Paul Zalonski

Praying and working for unity among Christians

Today begins the Octave of Prayer for the Unity of Christians. A spiritual work given to us by Father Paul of Graymoor and approved by Pope Saint Pius X. This prayer of Fr Sergius Bulgakov ought to be in our heart.

O Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, thou didst promise to abide with us always. Thou dost call all Christians to draw near and partake of Thy Body and Blood. But our sin has divided us and we have no power to partake of Thy Holy Eucharist together. We confess this our sin and we pray Thee, forgive us and help us to serve the ways of reconciliation, according to Thy Will. Kindle our hearts with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Give us the spirit of Wisdom and faith, of daring and of patience, of humility and firmness, of love and of repentance, through the prayers of the most blessed Mother of God and of all the saints. Amen.

George Pell’s long legacy

Unexpectedly, George Cardinal Pell died in Rome following complications from hip surgery. He was 81.

Phil Lawler’s January 11th’s article, “Cardinal Pell’s long shadow” is an excellent tribute to a man who served the Lord and Church with much grace and sacrifice. Pell’s witness served to build the city of God challenging the crazy ideology of anti-Catholicism which is also antagonistic toward reasonableness. Read what Lawler has to say. There are several other articles on Pell that one ought to read alongside his Prison Journals.

May His Eminence’s memory be eternal.

Benedict XVIs funeral

“The foundation of the world is love.” – Pope Benedict XVI

The coffin of the late Pope Benedict XVI is placed in its final resting place in the grottos of St. Peter’s Basilica. The cypress coffin is placed inside a zinc coffin which is placed inside an oak coffin and then buried.

Eternal memory.

Benedict XVI: Our Father, teacher and prophet

Here’s a tribute by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

“Benedict XVI constant lay in welcoming divine Revelation with obedience to the faith, without abandoning the role of the intellect and will, which reached a climax in his writings on Jesus, who is source and summit of Revelation. Like so few have done before or since, he showed the richness and beauty of Christ in the sublime trilogy: “Jesus of Nazareth”; a text that will remain in the life of the Church as a spiritual masterpiece of elevated cultural and theological profundity.”

Read the tribute here.

Benedict in retrospective

Three articles worth our time in seriously reflecting upon the life, work and service of Benedict XVI. Two of the articles are written by Connecticut resident and friend, John Burger, an exceptional journalist. The other is a published essay by Australian Tracey Rowland, a well-known theologian and expert on the thought of Benedict.

1. Benedict XVI, the pope of surprises

2. “One of the truly great”: Pope Benedict passes at 95 on the last day of 2022

3. Pope Benedict’s theological legacy

What is heaven

In these hours in which we accompany Benedict XVI with our prayers and ascetic practices, we find ourselves contemplating eternal life. Earthly life will end but our soul continues and we believe that each of us will be given a new mission by God. Benedict was asked the question in 2016 interview:

Q: The believer trusts that ‘eternal life’ is a life fulfilled.
Benedict: Definitely! Then he is truly at home.
Q: What are you expecting?

Benedict: There are various dimensions. Some are more theological. St. Augustine says something which is a great thought and a great comfort here. He interprets the passage from the Psalms ‘seek his face always’ as saying: this applies ‘for ever’; to all eternity. God is so great that we never finish our searching. He is always new. With God there is perpetual, unending encounter, with new discoveries and new joy. Such things are theological matters. At the same time, in an entirely human perspective, I look forward to being reunited with my parents, my siblings, my friends, and I imagine it will be as lovely as it was at our family home.

An extract from The Last Testament – In His Own Words – Benedict XVI with Peter Seewald (2016).

The 530th Anniversary of Christianity in the Americas

Roger R. Jean-Charles, a physician and Knight of Malta compiled the information to commemorate “The 530th Anniversary of Christianity in the Americas.” More than a mere anniversary it is an event of the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior.

Christmas Day, December 25th, is a reminder that Haiti is the birthplace of Christianity in the Americas, when Columbus planted the cross at Môle-Saint-Nicolas, Port-de-Paix in Northwest Haiti on December 4th, 1492. Christmas, Noël, Joy, and Sharing. Let us happily share some special dates:

336 A.D. Rome formally celebrates the Nativity, the birth of Christ.

1492 On December 24 – 25, Christopher Columbus and the Pinzon brothers, natives of Palos de la Frontera in Huelva, Spain, settled La Navidad in Môle-Saint-Nicolas from Santa María materials, according to Christopher Minster and the text below:

“On the night of December 24-25, 1492, Christopher Columbus’ flagship, the Santa María, ran aground off the northern coast of the island of Hispaniola and had to be abandoned. With no room for the stranded sailors, Columbus was forced to found La Navidad (Christmas), the first European settlement in the New World. When he returned the following year, he found that the colonists had been massacred by natives.”

1539 The first Christmas celebration on US land takes place in Tallahassee, Florida, led by Hernando De Soto

1870 Christmas is declared a federal holiday in the United States

2022 We celebrate 530 years of Christianity and Catholicism in the Americas, with Haiti as the birthplace.

Jesus is the Key to David

Jesus holds the Key to David.
(Revelation 3.7)
Only He can open and close
our access to the kingdom of God
and to Eternal Life because:
“Whoever sees me, sees the Father”! (John 14.9)

Jesus do not delay
and come save us all
prisoners
of sin and death,
from the death of sin and
of the sin of death.

“Maranatha”, come Lord Jesus!

On the ground in Ukraine

EWTN News in Depth (12/16/2022) has a review of the plight of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. There are several pivotal interviews for our consideration.

Watch “On the Ground in Ukraine.” One of the groups the news profiles, the Order of Malta, is also a group that has helped us in New Haven with giving food and aid.

I am happy that we can collaborate with the Order of Malta (Southeast CT Area) assisting Ukrainians. We have made several substantial donations that are on the way to Ukraine.

St Lucy

Today we pray for the gift to see. Not only seeing light, color and people/things, but seeing deeply things of God –in the spiritual life — through the intercession of Saint Lucy of Syracuse (283–304). It is a fervent pray of mine that Saint Lucy will open the eyes of us all to see truth, beauty and goodness; I also pray for my friend Ken whose birthday is celebrated today, and for those who live eye problems.

The feast of St. Lucy whose name from the Latin lux, for “light”, reminds us who dwell in the still darkening northern hemisphere that our days will soon be getting longer again.

One her biographers say “Some accounts have Lucy slain by having her throat thrust through with sword.

“Other accounts say that to protect her virginity she disfigured herself by cutting her own eyes out and sending them to her suitor, a plot likely to discourage him.

“St. Lucy is therefore the patroness of sight.

“St. Lucy shows up fairly often in Dante’s great Divine Comedy. She is first in the Inferno. It is Lucy who asked Beatrice to help Dante. In Purgatory the eagle that bears Dante upward in a dream is actually Lucy who is bearing him to the gate of Purgatory. Eagles, of course, are “eagle-eyed” and see very well. In the Paradiso she is placed directly across from Adam in the Heaven of the Rose. She can gaze directly at God.

The photo, above, is from the Church of St. Lucy in Rome taken by Fr JZ.