Paul Zalonski – Page 358

Blessed Christopher of Milan

God of all truth, you made Blessed Christopher a
faithful herald of your word to the people. By his life and ministry may we
keep Christ ever in our thoughts and in the love of our hearts.

Christopher (early 15th-c.-1484) was known among his Dominican brothers as “holy and abstemious, humble and studious” and having all the ordinary virtues of a good Christian man. His apostolic work included the areas of Milan and Liguria where he drew many souls to Christ due his excellence in preaching.

Pope Pius IX beatified Christopher in 1875.

From an antiphon from First Vespers for Blessed Christopher we pray: Strengthen by holy intercession, O Christopher, confessor of the Lord, those here present, have we who are burdened with the weight of our offenses may be relieved by the glory of thy blessedness, and may by thy guidance attain eternal rewards.

Discovering the Way: El Camino de Santiago

Salt + Light TV has given a wonderful gift in doing a terrific story on the ancient pilgrimage trail called in Spanish, El Camino de Santiago. The Way of Saint James. Alessia Domanico is the host of “Discovering the Way: El Camino de Santiago.”

I’ve been wanting to walk the Camino for years. I can think of no other pilgrimage to do with gusto than this one. It may still take me time to plan and go on the Way of Saint James, but I am resolved. You???

As was said in the video, the walk along the long trail to tomb of Saint James does many things but for me it seems to me that its most important aspect is one’s ability to notice beauty, to notice life. Recall that beauty is that theological datum that most speaks of God in a most authentically human and spiritual manner.

The Camino is truly about the Christian tradition, there’s:

a great adventure, go for a purpose: you’ll grow spiritually and physically
an opportunity to pray, to do penance, to be reminded of tradition
catechesis on the faith
an opportunity to learn Christian and civil history
to know your own humanity, that of the other
learn and experience the christian faith
have the goal to go to the Cathedral of Saint James to visit the relics of a great Apostle.

I would also recommend Monsignor Kevin A. Codd’s book on the making the pilgrimage, To the Field of Stars.

Monsignor’s blog To the Field of Stars introduces you to the pilgrimage.

Transitioning from Husar to new era in the Ukrainian Church …?

In the past weeks we’ve seen the Pontiff accepting the resignation of His Beatitude Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, 78, as the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Bishop Ihor Voznyak is the temporary administrator of the Church until a new leader is elected.

The Ukrainian Church is the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches with its own tradition, law, discipline, and customs; in Church law we’d call the Ukrainian Church an Ecclesia sui juris. As a note, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is alternately called the Union Church, Ukrainian Catholic Church, Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite or the Kyivan Catholic Church. Empress Maria Theresa introduced the designation of Greek-Catholic in the title of the Church in 1774. In 1999, the Synod of Bishops introduced the name “Kyivan Catholic Church.”

Continue reading Transitioning from Husar to new era in the Ukrainian Church …?

John Paul II’s coffin to be viewed

The Holy See is allowing the coffin of Pope John Paul II to be viewed following the May 1st beatification ceremony which will be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.

After the viewing the papal body will repose in the Chapel of San Lorenzo in the Basilica of Saint Peter.

The video story is here.

The Vicariate of Rome website for Pope John Paul’s beatification ceremony

Beatification ceremonies for John Paul II are FREE

The Prefecture of the Papal Household, having been
informed of the existence of unauthorised offers by some Tour Operators,
especially on internet, of assistance in procuring tickets, with a service
charge, for General Audiences and Papal ceremonies, particularly for the
Beatification of the Servant of God John Paul II on Sunday, May 1, wishes to
make it clear that:

1) For the Beatification Mass of Pope John Paul II, as made
clear from the outset, no tickets are required.

2) The tickets provided by the
Prefecture of the Papal Household for General Audiences and Papal ceremonies
are always issued FREE of charge and no person or organization can request any
kind of payment.

Severed from dependence & completion in God we forget about our eternal destiny in communion with God, Pope reminds Filipino bishops

The Philippines is the most populous Catholic nation in Asia. We ought to be aware that the Catholic faith has been in the Philippines for 5 centuries now!!!!

These days, among the many things Benedict XVI is doing, he’s meeting with the Filipino bishops who are praying at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, all in an effort to strengthen the bond of unity between the universal Church and the Church in the Philippines. This is the second group of bishops from the Philippines led by Archbishop Palma of Cebu, is in Rome for the ad Limina. A third group will begin their visit on the 21st. Benedict addresses the body the bishops and also meets individually with each bishop. Every 5 years a bishop who heads a diocese is to make a pilgrimage to Rome to pray, to visit with the pope to report on the state of evangelization of the local church and to visit with the various departments at the Holy See. A quinquennial report is sent ahead of a bishop’s visit to the Eternal City so that the pope can study the good and areas of need of a particular diocese. It is the expectation that the ad Limina Apostolorum, to the threshold of the Apostles, helps in the transparency in bishop’s concern for the salvation of souls. What Benedict told the Filipino bishops today is appropriate for us here in the USA. A portion of the text is given below with my notations for emphasis.

Filipino culture is also confronted with the more
subtle questions inherent to the secularism, materialism, and consumerism of
our times. When self-sufficiency and freedom are severed from their dependence
upon and completion in God, the human person creates for himself a false
destiny and loses sight of the eternal joy for which he has been made. The path
to rediscovering humanity’s true destiny can only be found in the
re-establishment of the priority of God in the heart and mind of every person.

Continue reading Severed from dependence & completion in God we forget about our eternal destiny in communion with God, Pope reminds Filipino bishops

The 7 Holy Servite Founders

The collect prayed by the priest at Mass for today’s
optional memorial of the 7 holy founders of the Servite Order asks the Lord for
same “love which inspired the seven holy brothers to honor the Mother of God
with special devotion and to lead your people to you.” Servites, a 13th century mendicant order inspired by the first Dominican martyr, Saint Peter of Verona, are devoted to
the Our Lady of Sorrows and are to live a life of penance. Theirs, like what all Christians live, is a life
discipleship with Christ Crucified. The is the key to our salvation. And the
Servite founders remind us that following Christ necessarily means bearing the
cross.

The Thought of Henri Bremond

In the current
issue of La Civiltà Cattolica, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro wrote an
interesting essay, “The Thought of Henri Bremond.” Matters pertaining to faith
and reason, faith and culture interest me perhaps you. At least that’s what I
hope if you are a frequent reader of the Communio blog. Henri Bremond
(1865-1933) is a former a Jesuit priest, literary scholar and was in the middle
of the Modernist crisis. His literary output was terrific. Bremond was a member
of the illustrious Académie Française succeedingm(elected in 1923 holding seat
number 36). France also awarded the Lé d’honneur. The summary:

An attempt to
overcome the gap between faith and culture – In the years that saw the rise of
surrealism, of Freudian thought and of the modernist crisis, Henri Bremond
captured the separation that was growing between theology and culture
sanctioned by the Enlightenment. Bremond suffered in trying to find a
compromise in terms of language, seeking to show to a cultured audience the
best results of a religious sensibility and sought to show to his Catholic
readers the religious value of «profane» literature. Seeing the similarities
between a mystical and a poetic inspiration, he concluded that “it is up to the
mystic to explain the poet,” reversing a common axiom. The article, on the
occasion of the reissue of his Prayer and poetry, absent from Italian
bookstores for three decades, presents the main insights of the priest,
academician of France.

Equipped for Ministry? Each person called by the Lord has work to do

Working in a great parish where it is difficult to get some of the simplest things done due to a labor shortage –that is, people giving their time for service– and getting other ministerial things accomplished for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls, thinking about the ministry of the laity has given me pause to revisit some personal thinking. Baltimore’s Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien wrote about lay ministry in the current edition of The Catholic Review where he acknowledges the great number of people who Christ and the Church in generous ways by living the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Archbishop puts his finger on a process, formation. Pay attention to what Pope Benedict has said about parish work.

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien

One of the great joys I have experienced in my visits to parishes and schools in our Archdiocese over the past three-plus years has been the witness of so many dedicated lay Catholics who serve the Church in many and diverse ways.

Much of the work of these lay ministers is visible to us. They share their gifts and talents as music ministers at Mass, making “a joyful noise to the Lord,” and as lectors, ushers and Eucharistic ministers who, Sunday after Sunday, show great care for the liturgy. Catechists minister in our parishes, passing on the faith to Catholics of all ages – from converts to “cradle Catholics” – who are hungry for spiritual nourishment. And the youth ministers of our Archdiocese share their enthusiasm for being Catholic and the Gospel message of God’s love with young people “on fire” for their faith.

Continue reading Equipped for Ministry? Each person called by the Lord has work to do