Paul Zalonski – Page 306

Avery Dulles’ 3rd anniversary

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the Jesuit Avery Robert Cardinal Dulles‘ entrance into life eternal. I pray for a friend’s solicitude but now from a different perch.

O God, who chose your servant John Patrick Cardinal Foley from among your priests and endowed him pontifical dignity in the apostolic priesthood, grant, we pray, that he may also be admitted to their company for ever.

If you are interested in reading, Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ: A Model Theologian, 1918-2008 is worth picking up and spending lots of time with it. Patrick W. Carey does a good job teasing out the key themes of a very prominent Catholic theologian in the USA.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Partroness of America

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars

(Rev.12:1).

O God, Father of mercies, who placed your people under the singular protection of your Son’s most holy Mother, grant that all who invoke the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe may seek with ever more lively faith the progress of peoples in the ways of justice and of peace.

Saint Juan Diego Cuahtlatoatzin

A relatively obscure saint on our liturgical calendar, as many are, but here in the USA while Saint Juan Diego (1774-1548) is not as well-known as he ought to be, those who recognize him know that he famous for being an instrument of Divine Providence. He discerned God’s will and lived his life as though he really belonged to Jesus Christ. He is the first native American to be raised to the altar. As Pope John Paul said, Juan Diego shed light on the divine path to salvation. Pray and closely read the prayer used at Mass below.

The Church prays,

O God, who by means of Saint Juan Diego showed the love of the most holy Virgin Mary for your people, grant through his intercession, that, by following the counsels our Mother gave at Guadalupe, we may ever be constant in fulfilling your will.

Notice the controlling ideas: through this man God revealed Himself to God’s people and that through this man’s prayers and good example he made known to all humanity the counsels of Mary, the Mother of God. THE counsel of Mary to us is our adherence to God’s will. Having that change-of-mind, that conversion to Christ in a total way.

Want to know more about Saint Juan Diego, read a brief biography here.

Blessed John Paul II’s homily at the Mass of Canonization of Juan Diego is noted here.

For what and for whom shall we pray today? For Mexico and the Church in the Americas (North, Central and South); for the Church especially in the USA to follow more closely the will of God and for those who bear the name Juan Diego.

Why is the Immaculate Conception important?

What did we hear today from the sacred Liturgy about the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary? How close to did you pay attention to the priest praying the Mass prayers on your behalf? What’s the import of the feast? To know the answers we have to look at the texts of today’s Liturgy. Did you notice when the priest prayed:

1. God preserved Mary from every stain of sin by foreseeing the death of His Son Jesus, and so we pray too, that is, we hope to be cleansed of sin and admitted to communion with Him;

2. we profess belief in God’s prevenient grace given to Mary and we hope that He will deliver us from sin;

3. in the Preface, the priest prays that in Mary who was “endowed with the rich fullness of your [God’s] grace … [there is] a worthy Mother for your Son and [which] signify the beginning of the Church; As Pope Benedict said today, “Mary, on the other hand,” he continued, “is Immaculate, free from all stain of sin. The Church is holy, but at the same time marked by our sins.”

4. in her yes to God’s invitation to be the Mother of Jesus, we have the “Lamb would wipe away our offenses”;

5. we pray that the singular grace given to Mary may also be given to us.

This Liturgy is a mix of liturgical, dogmatic and systematic theology. BTW, this is fitting way to celebrate the graces given to our nation.

The Church is alive, complacency is not an option, Archbishop Chaput told his people

Of any fair-minded and competent person it is a daunting task of taking on the work of the Chief Shepherd of a very large (nearly 1.5 million Catholics) local church is enough to make one have second thoughts but imagine taking on a project that’s been rocked by low morale among the faithful and clergy, numerous victims of sexual misconduct, of a troubled school and parish systems and the like. But that is what the 67 year old Capuchin Friar-Archbishop is doing in Philadelphia. Rebuilding the Lord’s church as Saint Francis of Assisi was exhorted, Archbishop Charles has completed only 3 months of service in Philadelphia and he’s fresh from a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and now a letter oriented to setting a straighter path to Christ.

Consider in brief, Chaput’s words:

Complacency is the enemy of faith. To whatever degree complacency and pride once had a home in our local Church, events in the coming year will burn them out. The process will be painful. But going through it is the only way to renew the witness of the Church; to clear away the debris of human failure from the beauty of God’s word and to restore the joy and zeal of our Catholic discipleship.

These words may sound sobering, but they are spoken with love as a father and a brother. They are a plea to take our baptism seriously; and to renew our local Church with Christian charity, justice and zeal. As Scripture reminds us so frequently: Do not be afraid. God uses poor clay to create grandeur and beauty. He can certainly use us to renew and advance the work of the Church — and he will.

The full text of the pastoral letter can be read here: Pastoral Letter to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Abp Charles Chaput December 8, 2011.pdf

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception was given to us by Pope Pius IX and proclaimed in the document, Ineffabilis Deus (1854), solemnly defining a clear and consistent teaching of the Church since 33 AD.

If you ask the question: What can you tell me about Mary as Patroness of America? Boston’s Archbishop (later Cardinal) Richard Cushing wrote an answer.

Famously, the 23 US bishops in 1846 (note: nearly a decade before the dogma’s definition) wrote to the Pope asking for Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception to be bestowed on the country’s young Church. The bishops wrote:

We take this occasion, brethren, to communicate to you the determination, unanimously adopted by us, to place ourselves and all entrusted to our charge throughout the United States, under the special patronage of the holy Mother of God, whose Immaculate Conception is venerated by the piety of the faithful throughout the Catholic Church.

By the aid of her prayers, we entertain the confident hope that we will be strengthened to perform the arduous duties of our ministry, and that you will be enabled to practice the sublime virtues, of which her life presents the most perfect example.

Pastoral Letter of the Bishops of the United States
Sixth Provincial Council, Baltimore, 5 May 1846

Pearl Harbor remembered: 70 years later

The words of FDR still ring in the ears: “a date which will live in infamy.”

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. 2402 Americans were killed, 1282 injured.

Let us pray for those who perished and those who continue to be burdened with the tragedy. May God be merciful and loving.

Show us, Lord, the immense power of your goodness, that, as we weep for our brothers and sisters taken from us by a sudden death, we may be confident that they have passed over into your eternal company.

Saint Ambrose

O God, who made the Bishop Saint Ambrose a teacher of the Catholic faith and a model of apostolic courage, raise up in your Church men after your own heart to govern her with courage and wisdom.

Let’s pray for Cardinal Angelo Scola and the Church in the great Archdiocese of Milan.

Saint Nicholas

The liturgical memorial of Saint Nicholas observed today is an opportunity to reflect on our reliance on others as we go onto the Lord as a community, people who have regard for another. The sainted bishop Nicholas of Myra (Turkey) reminds us of our reception of unmerited grace given by God.

Let us pray for sailors, orphans and pawnbrokers. I’d also like to remember Melkite Bishop Nicholas Samra on his feast day.

The Church prays…

We humbly implore your mercy, Lord: protect us in all dangers through the prayers of the Bishop Nicholas, that the way of salvation may lie open before us.

(RM 2011)