Author: Paul Zalonski

Moscow Patriarch said women are the stronger sex

OK, I laughed (to myself so as not to disturb the priests with whom I live) that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in May to a youth conference that he thinks women are the stronger sex and psychologically more sturdy than men. My mother and sister would agree; and if my grandmothers and Aunt Jeanne were alive, they’d agree with His All Holiness. I am happy that he said this because he confirmed something I always knew or was drilled into my noggin –and heard proclaimed by women’s organizations since I’ve been in seminary formation. While this is neither new news nor as the critical as the oxygen being sucked out of the news industry in the past 8 days (with Michael Jackson’s death) but now it’s “infallible” and we all know the truth. Really, I am not poking fun at the Russian Patriarch…I think it’s humorous that such a point was newsworthy of Interfax, a news agency. In part, Patriarch Kirill said:

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“Men happen to be frailer. The upheavals of 1990s
caused many of them to break down, but women had more vigor to endure the stress.”

Answering questions, it was said that sport
achievements required courage: “women win our country most
of Russia’s gold medals in sport.”

The Patriarch’s words received a
riveting ovation. “An individual comprises both spirit and body, and human
strength depends not only on its physical component. In this regard, women are
the stronger sex,” Patriarch Kirill said.

That he travels around Russia Patriarch Kirill noticed that “Almost every village has some kind of an
amateur talent group. Who sings in a choir? Women do, and sometimes they are
accompanied by a drunken accordionist.” The same is true for many village schools, libraries, post offices, local
administration where women have to play the lead, concluded Kirill.

Blessed John Henry Newman

JH Newman2.jpgThe Holy Father recognized the 2001 healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan as a miracle by way of the Venerable Servant of God Cardinal John Henry Newman‘s intercession. This was the final step in the beatification process of the English cardinal; of course, the canonization process will continue to its natural end. Now the details of the beatification ceremony are pending which is likely to be England.

We rejoice with the Congregation of the Oratory and the 82 Oratorian Houses –indeed with the entire Church in the Pope’s decision to beatify Newman because it gives us another authentic guide to Christ.

At the Birmingham Oratory you can read

Some of his works can be found here.

Saint Thomas

Because thou has seen Me, Thomas, thou has believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed, alleluia.


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Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to glory in the solemn festival of Thy blessed Apostle Thomas; may his patronage ever help us, and may we at all times imitate his faith with suitable devotion.
Pope Benedict’s 2006 catechesis on Saint Thomas is quite illustrative of true faith through the example of the Apostle.
Are we free enough to follow Christ in the same manner as the Apostle Thomas? Do we adhere closely to Christ in all ways –holding nothing back–so has to truly say that Christ is the way, the truth and the life? What makes us insecure in our following Christ? Does uncertainty paralyze us in being a true Christian? Why?
Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.

How to do lectio divina

My friends at St Louis Abbey posted this cheat-cheat on doing lectio divina encouraging us to dig deeply into this very necessary form of prayer. All good things are derived from the daily practice of lectio divina. As the monks will tell you, lectio is not only for monks but for the entire Church.

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Lectio divina is a way of getting in touch daily in a personal way
with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; it is a way of getting in touch with Jesus Christ our Lord and our brother. It is away of reading centered on God and, if you do it with faith you will be able to hear what he has to say to you here at this moment.  It is a way of reading which is slow so that the words are savored in meditation. It moves from the literal meaning to what only the Spirit can make clear to you. It calls for action by your involvement and for passive surrender as it draws you into the heart of God. It is disinterested; the text must be read for its own sake and not for the achievement of having read it.

Lectio is a way of experiencing Jesus Christ. You will encounter him personally in the sacred scriptures because he is there hidden in the pages of your Bible and you ought to believe in his presence with greater assurance than if you could see him with your eyes.  He has the same power there as he revealed in the gospels and he cures you of your physical and moral ailments, brings his light to your everyday life and leads you to eternal life.

Your encounter is with the Word who loves you unconditionally and is ever present and real in your life. From all eternity God has had a plan for the whole course of your life, your personal fulfillment, your vocation, your happiness. You will surely stray from the right path and become alienated from your true self through serving other gods, if you do not allow him to reveal himself to you daily through his word. It is in
your Bible that the true story of your life is written. If you don’t at once
understand what you read, then have confidence that the Lord will reveal it to you in his own time, because no word comes form the mouth of the Lord without achieving in you the work he intended. If your thoughts and imagination get in the way of your prayer, then fling them immediately before Christ.  Make no attempt to master them by your own strength, but try to turn back to your prayer.

You ought to do lectio every day, even if it is only one single verse of the Bible, because, “It is not on bread alone that man lives but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)  Your reading of the word of God should be deliberate, moving slowly from verse to verse, from word to word, watching for the context, paying close attention to each passage, looking out for the answers that are there in sacred scripture itself and the echoes they evoke, watching the notes and marginal references and always treasuring silence so as to make space to listen. You should know that the word you hear is directed to you personally and individually. When you read the word of God, it
speaks to you; when you pray, you speak to the word and so turn your prayer into conversation.

Your prayer may be simply staying with the word in silence, or it may be a thanksgiving, or a petition, or praise, or blessing, or contrition, or intercession, or one single word on which you pause and then repeat at will, or it may be a prayer of inspiration. If you are taking part in shared lectio, the way to share what the scripture has said to you is by means of a personal comment spoken in the first person singular and applied to your own life, or else it may be a prayer out loud offered directly to God.

José Manuel Eguiguren Guzman of the Manquehue Movement, Chile; translated by Abbot Patrick Barry, OSB

Progress in John Paul’s beatification process

JPII in prayer.jpgYesterday morning [June 30] there was help at the Congregation
for Causes of Saints the second meeting of the theological consultors tasked to
examine the “Positio,” that is the documents and testimonies of the
cause for beatification of John Paul II. In the first meeting, about
which Il Giornale has spoken, was held on 13 May. But it had an
intermediate (or interlocutory… “interlocutorio”) outcome, because of
critical point raised not about the personal sanctity of Pope Wojtyla but about
the manner in which the work was advanced and the lack of documentation. 
The postulator of the cause, Msgr. Slawomir Oder, responded in writing to the
objections and yesterday there was held the second and final meeting of the
theologians, which had given a favorable majority opinion. Two of them
maintained the initial “suspended judgment” (“sospensivo”)
because they though that the proofs and documents ought to have been integrated
(“il quadro probatorio e documentale debba essere integrato”). This is the article that was published in today’s Il Giornale. Now the
“Positio” goes to the cardinal and bishop members of the
Congregation, who before the end of the year will make a decision about the
heroic virtue of Pope Wojtyla. Then it will fall to Pope Benedict to
promulgate the decree which will bring his predecessor to beatification.


(thanks to Fr John Zuhlsdorf for the
translation of Andrea Tornielli’s article) 

John Paul II speaking of Communion and Liberation


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On 31 March 197 Pope John Paul II said of Communion and
Liberation: “I like this name very much.” Here’s his explanation:

So you too,
young people, beloved young people, have shown, in the very name chosen to
describe your movement “Communion and Liberation” (I must say that I
like this name very much, I like it for many reasons: for a theological reason
and for, I would say, an ecclesiological reason. This name is so closely linked
with the ecclesiology of Vatican II. Then I like it because of the perspective
it opens to us: the personal, interior perspective and the social perspective:
Communion and Liberation. For its topicality, this is the task of the Church
today: a task which is expressed precisely in the name “Communion and
Liberation.” With this name, therefore, you have shown that you are well aware
of the deepest expectations of modern man. 

The liberation to which the world
aspires–you have reasoned–is Christ; Christ lives in the Church; man’s true
liberation takes place, therefore, in experience of ecclesial communion; to
build up this communion is, therefore, the essential contribution that
Christians can make to the liberation of all.

Vatican Observatory Moves


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The Jesuit report that after residing
more than seventy years within the papal summer Palace itself, the headquarters of the Vatican Observatory recently moved to a new
location in the Papal Gardens at Castelgandolfo. The move was occasioned by
increased demands for space within the Palace, and the growing needs of the
Observatory. Until few weeks ago, the observatory offices were located on the
top floor of Papal Palace, the Pope’s summer home located in the Alban Hills,
25 kilometers southeast of Rome. Its extensive astronomical library is
scattered over four rooms on the top two floors of the Palace, while the
valuable meteorite collection and laboratory, the historic vault of
photographic observations made at the Observatory from 1895 to 1979, and the
classroom where the biennial Vatican Observatory Summer Schools are conducted,
are located on the ground floor of the Palace. Meanwhile, the living
quarters of the Jesuits is divided between rooms on the second and top floors.
With the prospect of half a dozen younger Jesuits joining the staff over the
next five years, the issue of both residence and office space was becoming
acute.

“Moving the Observatory collections and libraries has been
a logistical challenge,” noted Father José Funes, the Argentinean
Jesuit and director of the observatory. “But the new site will allow us to
address a growing need for space and order.” The new quarters,
located in the remodelled monastery built by the Basilian monks within one of
the most beautiful gardens in the Italian peninsula, should provide a far more
peaceful and comfortable setting. The Vatican Observatory traces its
history to the reform of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIII in 1583. It was
re-organized by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, “so that everyone might see clearly
that the Church and her Pastors are not opposed to true and solid science,
whether human or divine, but that they embrace it, encourage it, and promote it
with the fullest possible devotion.”

Blessed Junipero Serra


Bl Junipero Serra.jpgMy words that I have put in your mouth, says the Lord, will never be absent from your lips, and your gifts will be accepted on my altar.

God most high, Your servant Junipero Serra brought the gospel of Christ to the peoples of Mexico and California and firmly established the Church among them. By his intercession, and through the example of his apostolic zeal, inspire us to be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
An interesting itinerary of Blessed Junipero