Paul Zalonski – Page 336

James Wiseman elected abbot of Saint Anselm Abbey, Washington, DC

Father James Wiseman, 66, was elected the new and fifth abbot of Saint Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, DC Thursday. Dom James will serve for an eight year term as abbot. He replaces the Prior Administrator Simon McGurk, a monk of Belmont Abbey in the UK.

The new abbot’s been called to serve his community in a variety of ways since his profession in 1966: priesthood (1970), abbot (1975-1983), novice master (1983-1994) and prior (1990-2006). In fact, Dom James has been elected as abbot for the second time; the first time around he was the second abbot.

Abbot James teaches theology at Catholic University of America, and has done so since 1985, and at the abbey’s school since 1969. Since 2007, he’s held the rank of ordinary professor at Catholic University.

He has served twice as chair of CUA’s theology department, and for a period of time as an associate dean. James Wiseman has written or edited six books and more than 30 published articles. He’s also chaired the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, a collection of monks and nuns interested in questions of interfaith relations. For 12 years Dom James edited the Bulletin of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue.

Saint Anselm Abbey is one of three Benedictine abbeys in the USA of the English Benedictine Congregation, there are a total of 13 EBC houses of monks. The others being Saint Gregory the Great (Portsmouth, RI) and Saint Louis (St Louis, MO). The Benedictine monastic community was founded in 1923 Father Thomas Verner Moore and some companions. In 1961, Blessed Pope John XXIII gave the Benedictine community the rank of an abbey. Today, there are 15 monks at Saint Anselm’s.

Through the intercession of Saints Benedict, Scholastica and Anselm, and Father Luigi Giussani, may the Blessed Trinity give Abbot James the wisdom and love to serve well and prudence. Especially offer your prayers for the monastic community as it continues the work of deepening their faith and giving clear witness to monastic witness of the Gospel. There’s is an unique vocation in the Nation’s heart.

“The Western Mass” — now really…..

Clearly the liturgical formation of seminarians in the Archdiocese of Vienna is pretty bad if what is protrayed here is true. Gloria.TV exposes yet another example of how some trash the sacred Liturgy under the guise of making it accessible to the people: “The Western Mass.”

The celebrant was the rector of the Vienna Cathedral, Father Anton Faber; AND, according to Father Faber, the Cardinal-Archbishop Christoph Maria Michael Hugo Damian Peter Adalbert Graf von Schönborn, OP, approves of the way Father Faber celebrates the sacred Liturgy.

Nicholas James Samra: New eparch of Newton for the Melkites

The Holy Father, upon the recommendation of the Melkite Synod, has given his assent to election of the Most Reverend Nicholas James Samra as the new Eparch of Newton for the Melkites. Bishop Nicholas, 67, has been the auxiliary of the same. Bishop Nicholas replaces Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros who has been elected the Metropolitan of Beruit and Jbeil.

The Eparchy of Newton covers the entire country; it was founded in 1966 and erected as an eparchy in 1976. According to 2009 stats the Eparchy has 26,700 faithful.

I have known Sayedna Nicholas for years and this is a terrific choice for the Eparchy!!!

Bishop Nicholas is the first native born to be the Father of the Eparchy!

God grant him many years!!!!!

Ratzinger Prize given to 3

WOW! Imagine giving a prize in your own name! Well, if you are the Pope and an eminent theologian, you can (and will). This is cool, as “they” say. Vatican Radio announced today that the Pope has given the prize in theological studies in this thought. While 2 of the 3 are senior in age and wisdom, but don’t be fooled: all of them are top scholars and widely known; the youngest recipient has a lot more juice in him. Abbot Maximillian is the author of a brilliant book on Ratzinger’s theology, Joseph Ratzinger: Life in the Church and Living Theology (Ignatius Press 2007).

The Rome Reports story is here. The Holy See’s story follows:

The first three winners of the Ratzinger Prize were
announced on Tuesday in the Vatican Press Office. The prize was established
last year to promote theological studies on the writings of the Pope, and to
reward promising scholars. The prizes will be given out by Pope Benedict on
June 30^th.

The Ratzinger Prize is a project of the Joseph
Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, which was funded by Pope Benedict
with the royalties he has received from his books.

The prizes and the
conferences the foundation sponsors focus on helping the truth, meaning and
beauty of Christianity in relation to today’s culture and society emerge.

On
Tuesday, the first three winners of the Ratzinger Prize were announced.

Continue reading Ratzinger Prize given to 3

The True Meaning of Marriage

Posted on his blog today, The Gospel in the Digital Age, Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan wrote a piece on meaning of marriage and family according to natural reason and Catholic belief. His Excellency makes several and crucial points that require our clear attention. A sound-bite understanding of these important issues is insufficient for us.

The stampede is on. Our elected senators who have stood courageous in their refusal to capitulate on the state’s presumption to redefine marriage are reporting unrelenting pressure to cave-in.

The media, mainly sympathetic to this rush to tamper with a definition as old as human reason and ordered good, reports annoyance on the part of some senators that those in defense of traditional marriage just don’t see the light, as we persist in opposing this enlightened, progressive, cause.

Continue reading The True Meaning of Marriage

Joseph Muzquiz, priest: possible saint

The Archdiocese of Boston announced on June 2 that it is taking to the next step in overseeing the study of the cause of canonization of Father Joseph Muzquiz (1912-1983).

In the summer of 2010 the initial steps with the Archdiocese and the Congregation for Saints took place. Now, the key task of this process is to see if, in fact, Father Joseph Muzquiz lived a life of heroic virtue.

Father Muzquiz, a priest of the Prelature of the Opus Dei, worked with two others in bringing Opus Dei to the USA. Saint Josemaría had admitted Joseph to Opus Dei in 1941 and had him ordained a priest in 1944 and sent him to the USA in 1949.

With the opening of the sainthood cause, Father Joseph is now referred to the Servant of God Father Joseph Muzquiz. Father Byran K. Parrish presided over the June 2nd ceremony in the name of Sean Cardinal O’Malley and the Most Reverend Emilio S. Allue, the episcopal delegate for the inquiry participated as well as the postulator of the cause, Father David Cavanagh of Opus Dei. About 150 people participated in this ceremony.

John F. Coverdale authored Putting Down Roots: Fr. Joseph Muzquiz and the Growth of Opus Dei (Scepter Publishers), the narrative of Muzquiz meeting Saint Josemaría and the story of early days of Opus Dei in the US. A brief piece on Putting Down Roots can be read here.

The prayer of petition for Muzquiz’s canonization

God, you helped your servant Joseph work with generosity and simplicity. He spread the message of sanctity in secular life to many people, teaching them to find joy and peace in their daily life. Help me to seek first the kingdom of God by sanctifying my everyday work and dedicating myself generously to the salvation of souls. Glorify your servant Joseph and through his intercession, grant me the favor I ask of you.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

The Primacy of the Human, develop a human ecology, Pope reminds

The primacy of the human is based on our belief in the transcendent. All aspects of the human person –politics, philosophy, ethics, economics and medicine– are rooted in the respect of and in engagement with the Divine. Catholics will further develop this idea of the transcendent by reflecting on the Trinity of the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. A personal God who lives and is active in history. The pope addressed the new ambassadors of Moldova, Equatorial Guinea, Belize, Syria, Ghana and New Zealand on 9 June when they presented their diplomatic credentials to the Holy See. Ordinarily, one doesn’t pay lots of attention to papal discourses made to the diplomats but it seems that there is some serious thinking going on here with the Pope viz. this sector of his ministry.

Continue reading The Primacy of the Human, develop a human ecology, Pope reminds

Saint Anthony of Padua & the blessing of lilies

The great saint from Lisbon and Padua, Anthony, was an outstanding preacher and intercessor. He was –and continues to be– a terrific guide to a fuller life in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the sacrament of the Church. There is no shortage of the faithful who visit a shrine of Saint Anthony to ask for his help in a particular need. In my church I am amazed of people’s tender love for Anthony today. The famous Paduan was known for his holy life, his knowledge of sacred Scripture and Theology.

Anthony’s first vocation was lived with the Augustinian Canons and after seeing the bodies of the first martyrs of the Franciscan Order brought through Portugal, he was moved to join the Friars in their mission of preaching for the salvation of souls, especially among the Muslims.

Here’s the traditional blessing of lilies for the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua.

Benedict XVI’s Pentecost 2011 homily: it is the Truth who loves me

Today we celebrate the great solemnity of Pentecost. If, in a certain sense, all of the Church’s liturgical celebrations are great, this one of Pentecost is so in a singular manner, because, arriving at the 50th day, it marks the fulfillment of the Easter event, of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, through the gift of the Risen Lord’s Spirit. The Church has prepared us in recent days for Pentecost with her prayers, with the repeated and intense plea to God for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us. The Church re-lived in this way the events of her origins, when the Apostles, gathered in the cenacle in Jerusalem “were perseverant and united in prayer together with some women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14). They were gathered in humble and confident expectation that the Father’s promise communicated to them by Jesus would be fulfilled: “Before long you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit … you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, who will descend upon you” (Acts 1:5, 8).

In the Pentecost liturgy, corresponding to the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles of the birth of the Church (cf. Acts 2:1-11), is Psalm 103, which we heard: a praise that goes up from all creation, exalting the Creator Spirit, who did everything with wisdom: “How many are your deeds, O Lord! You have done them with wisdom; the earth is filled with your creatures … may it always be the glory of the Lord; may the Lord rejoice in his works” (Psalm 103:24, 31). What the Church wishes to tell us is this: The creator Spirit of all things, and the Holy Spirit whom Christ had sent from the Father to the community of disciples, are one and the same: creation and redemption belong reciprocally to each other and they constitute, in their depths, a single mystery of love and salvation. The Holy Spirit is first of all the Creator Spirit and so Pentecost is the feast of creation. For us Christians the world is the fruit of an act of the love of God, who made all things and who rejoices in them because they are “good,” “very good,” as the account of creation states (cf. Genesis 1:1-31).

Thus God is not totally Other, unnamable and obscure. God reveals himself, he has a face, God is reason, God is will, God is love, God is beauty. The faith in the Creator Spirit is the faith in the Spirit whom the risen Christ bestowed upon the Apostles and bestows on each one of us; they are therefore inseparably joined.

Today’s second reading and Gospel show us this connection. The Holy Spirit is he who helps us recognize the Lord, and he makes us pronounce the Church’s profession of faith: “Jesus is Lord” (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3b). “Lord” is the title given to God in the Old Testament, a title that in the reading of the Bible took the place of his unspeakable name. The Church’s Creed is nothing more than the development of what is said with this simple affirmation: “Jesus is Lord.” St. Paul tells us of this profession of faith that it is from the word and work of the Holy Spirit. If we want to be in the Spirit, we must adhere to this Creed. Making it our own, accepting it as our word, we acquiesce to the work of the Holy Spirit.

The expression “Jesus is Lord” can be read in two senses. It means: Jesus is God, and at the same time: God is Jesus. The Holy Spirit illuminates this reciprocity: Jesus has divine dignity, and God has the human face of Jesus. God shows himself in Jesus and with this conveys to us the truth about ourselves. The event of Pentecost is letting ourselves be deeply enlightened by this word. Reciting the Creed we enter into the mystery of the first Pentecost: There occurs a radical transformation in the chaos of Babel, in those voices that vie against each other: the multiplicity becomes a multiform unity; from the unifying power of Truth comes growth in understanding. In the Creed that brings us together from the four corners of the earth, which, through the Holy Spirit, does this in a way that permits understanding even in the midst of the diversity of languages, through faith, hope and love, is formed the new community of the Church of God.

The Gospel passage offers us a marvelous image to clarify the connection between Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father: the Holy Spirit is represented as the breath of the risen Jesus Christ (cf. John 20:22). The Evangelist John borrows an image here from the account of creation, where it says that God breathed into man’s nostrils a breath of life (cf. Genesis 2:7). The breath of God is life. Now the Lord breathes into our soul the new breath of life, the Holy Spirit, his most intimate essence, and in this way we are welcomed into the family of God. With baptism and confirmation we are given this gift in a specific way, and with the sacraments of the Eucharist and penance it is continually repeated: the Lord breathes a breath of life into our soul. All of the sacraments, each in its proper way, communicate the divine life to man thanks to the Holy Spirit who works in them.

In today’s liturgy we see another connection. The Holy Spirit is both Creator and the Spirit of Jesus Christ, in a way however that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one single God. And in light of the first reading we can add: The Holy Spirit animates the Church. She does not derive from the human will, from reflection, from man’s ability and from his capacity to organize, because if this were the case, she would have already been extinct for some time, just as every human thing passes. She is rather the Body of Christ animated by the Holy Spirit. The images of wind and fire, used by St. Luke to represent the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:2-3), recall Sinai, where God was revealed to the people of Israel and he granted them his covenant; “Mount Sinai was covered in smoke,” we read in the Book of Exodus, “because the Lord had descended upon it in fire” (19:18). In fact Israel celebrated the 50th day after Passover, after the commemoration of the flight out of Egypt, as the feast of Sinai, the feast of the Covenant. When St. Luke speaks of tongues of fire to represent the Holy Spirit, the ancient covenant, established on the basis of the Law received by Israel on Sinai, is recalled. Thus, the event of Pentecost is represented as a new Sinai, as the gift of a new covenant in which the alliance with Israel is extended to all the peoples of the earth, in which all of the barriers of the old Law crumble and its holiest and immutable core appears, which is love, that precisely the Holy Spirit communicates and spreads, the love that embraces all things. At the same time the Law expands, it opens while remaining more basic: It is the New Covenant that the Holy Spirit “writes” in the hearts of those who believe in Christ. The extension of the Covenant to all the nations of the earth is represented by St. Luke through the considerable list of peoples of that time (cf. Acts 2:9-11).

With this we are told something very important: that the Church is catholic from the very first moment, that her university is not the fruit of the subsequent inclusion of diverse communities. From the first instant, in fact, the Holy Spirit created her as the Church of all peoples; she embraces the whole world, she transcends all frontiers of race, class, nation; she razes all the bastions and unites men in the profession of God one and triune. From the very beginning the Church is one, catholic and apostolic: This is her true nature and as such she must be recognized. She is holy, not due to the capacity of her members, but because God himself, with his Spirit, always creates her, purifies her and sanctifies her.

Finally, today’s Gospel gives us this beautiful expression: “The disciples rejoiced in seeing the Lord” (John 20:20). These words are profoundly human. The lost Friend is present again, and those who were frightened before now rejoice. But it says more than this. Because the lost Friend does not come from just anywhere but from the night of death — and he passed through it! — he is not just anyone but both the Friend and he who is the Truth that gives men life; and what he gives is not just any joy, but joy itself, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it is beautiful to live because I am loved, and it is the Truth who loves me. The disciples rejoice, seeing the Lord. Today on Pentecost this expression is also intended for us, because we can see him in faith; in faith he comes among us and he also shows to us his hands and side, and we rejoice in this. So, we wish to pray: Lord, show yourself! Give us the gift of your presence, and we will have the best gift: your joy. Amen!

Pope prays that the Holy Spirit heal hearts warped by selfishness & help the human family rediscover its fundamental unity

On this Pentecost Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI placed the cause of world peace in the hands of those who gave their lives for Christ in concentration camps during the praying of the Regina Caeli. His weekly Sunday address and prayer to the Mother of God for assistance called for world peace and unity among Christians. The intercession of the martyrs before the Throne of Grace is a powerful witness and desire on the part of the faithful who have confidence that God hears the cry of the poor and those who through a total gift of self shed their blood for Christ. This appeal to the martyrs is appropriate that on June 13, the Catholics in Dresden will be a part of history when Father Alois Andritzki, a martyr, was killed in 1943 at 28 years old, by the Socialists.

The prayer of the Pope goes like this:

“May the Holy Spirit inspire courageous resolutions for peace and support the work to continue, so that dialogue may prevail over arms and respect for human dignity over partisan interests. [That the] Holy Spirit may, “heal hearts warped by selfishness and help the human family to rediscover its fundamental unity. On this Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. Let us pray that we may be confirmed in the grace of our Baptism and share ever more actively in the Church’s mission of proclaiming the Good News of our salvation in Jesus Christ. The Church is one, Catholic and Apostolic. This is its true nature and must be recognized as such. [The Church] is holy not because of the capabilities of [the Church’s] members, but because God Himself, with His Spirit, creates and sanctifies always. [The] Spirit that created all things and the Holy Spirit Christ brought from the Father to the community of disciples, are one and the same. Creation and redemption go together and they constitute, deep down, a single mystery of love and salvation.”