Author: Paul Zalonski

The faith needs to be intelligible, Pope says

Using the method of Saint Cyril and Methodius Pope Benedict
spoke about the work of the Church in making the faith intelligible to people
using their own language. The task of inculturation is an extremely difficult
work because of the nuances of language and culture. Just look at the headaches
in translating catechisms, papal speeches and liturgical texts today. The
coalescing of faith and culture is a work the Church has done since the time of
Christ. Watch the video clip on the subject.

The Pope said, in
part: 

This was a decisive factor for the development of the Slavic
civilization in general. Cyril and Methodius were convinced that the various
peoples could not consider that they had fully received Revelation until they
had heard it in their own language and read it with the characters proper to
their own alphabet.

To Methodius falls the merit of ensuring that the work
began by his brother would not remain sharply interrupted. While Cyril, the
“philosopher,” tended toward contemplation, he [Methodius] was directed
more toward the active life. In this way, he was able to establish the
foundations of the successive affirmation of what we could call the
“Cyril-Methodian idea,” which accompanied the Slavic peoples in the
various historical periods, favoring cultural, national and religious
development. Pope Pius XI already recognized this with the apostolic letter Quod Sanctum Cyrillum, in which he classified the two brothers as
“sons of the East, Byzantines by their homeland, Greeks by origin, Romans
by their mission, Slavs by their apostolic fruits” (AAS 19 [1927] 93-96).

The historic role that they fulfilled was afterward officially proclaimed by
Pope John Paul II who, with the apostolic letter Egregiae Virtutis
Viri, declared them co-patrons of Europe, together with St. Benedict (AAS
73 [1981] 258-262). Indeed, Cyril and Methodius are a classic example of what
is today referred to with the term “inculturation”: Each people
should make the revealed message penetrate into their own culture, and express
the salvific truth with their own language. This implies a very exacting work
of “translation,” as it requires finding adequate terms to propose
anew the richness of the revealed Word, without betraying it. The two brother
saints have left in this sense a particularly significant testimony that the
Church continues looking at today to be inspired and guided. (Wednesday Audience, June 17, 2009)

J. Augustine DiNoia, Dominican & Archbishop

J A DiNoia OP.jpgToday, the Holy Father nominated Dominican Father Joseph Augustine Di Noia, 66, as the archbishop secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Disciple of the Sacraments. He is given the archepiscopal dignity and is assigned the Titular See of Oregon City.

A native of New York, a professed member of the Order of Friars Preachers, DiNoia possesses an earned doctorate from Yale and he is an esteemed professor. He is the past editor of the Thomist (a journal of Theological research and opinion). Until now Archbishop-elect DiNoia was the under-secretary for the CDF.
 
Archbishop-elect Joseph Augustine DiNoia, O.P. will be ordained to the episcopacy by His Eminence, William Cardinal Levada at the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC on 11 July 2009.
Blessings, my friend! May God grant you many years!

Charity is the most important gift

Rouault head of Christ.jpg‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in him’ (1 Jn 4:16). God has poured out his love in our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (cf. Rom 5:5); therefore the
first and most necessary gift is charity, by which we love God above all things
and our neighbor because of him. But if charity is to grow and fructify in the
soul like a good seed, each of the faithful must willingly hear the word of God
and carry out his will with deeds, with the help of his grace; he must
frequently partake of the sacraments, chiefly the Eucharist, and take part in
the liturgy; he must constantly apply himself to prayer, self-denial, active
brotherly service and the practice of all virtues. This is because love, as the
bond of perfection and fullness of the law (cf. Col 3:14; Rom 13:10),
governs, gives meaning to, and perfects all the means of sanctification. Hence the true disciple of Christ is marked by love both of God and of his
neighbor. (Lumen Gentium, 42)

With deifying light let us hear the divine voice

Let us then rise at length, since the Scripture arouse us,
saying: “It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep” (Romans 13:11);
and having opened our eyes to the deifying light, let us hear with awestruck
ears what the divine voice, crying out daily, does admonish us, saying:
“Today, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Psalm 94[95]:8). And again: “He that hath ears to hear let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). And what doth He say? “Come,
children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psalm 33[34]:12). “Run whilst you have the light of life, that the darkness of
death overtake you not” (John 12:35).

From the Prologue of the Holy Rule of our Holy Father Saint Benedict

Cyril Vasil ordained bishop

CVasil arms.jpgAs I noted a few weeks ago, Jesuit Father Cyril Vasil, 44, was nominated by the Pope to be Secretary for the Congregation for the Eastern Churches serving the Church with Cardinal Leonardo Sandri. He was ordained a bishop today in the papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, across the street from where he resided and taught Eastern Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Today, is also the Archbishop’s 22nd anniversary ordination as a priest and both ordinations were done by the same bishop.

As his coat of arms suggest, Archbishop is “Always Prepared” to serve the Lord and the Church.

May God grant Archbishop Cyril many years!
Cyril Vasil2.jpg

Lauda Sion

The Church has been given the gift of the enduring Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. Last week celebrated Trinity Sunday and today Corpus Christi. This feast dates to when Pope Urban IV (1261-64) inaugurated the Feast of Corpus Christi and asked Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) to compose the the Liturgy for the Church. A striking feature of today’s Liturgy is singing of a poetic called a sequence, one of four done in the current liturgical life of the Church, though historically there were poetics for all the major feast of the Lord and others for saints. Today’s marvelous sequence Lauda Sion,is sung prior to the proclamation of the Gospel. As all sacred texts do, Lauda Sion expresses Catholic faith in the Body and Blood of Christ. The three verses of Lauda Sion are given here but you may pray the entire text by visiting here.

Words a nature’s course derange,

that in Flesh the bread may change

and the wine in Christ’s own Blood.

Does it pass thy comprehending?

Faith, the law of light transcending,

leaps to things not understood.

Benediction.jpg

Hail! Bread of the Angels, broken,

for us pilgrims food, and token

of the promise by Christ spoken,

children’s meat, to dogs denied!

Shown in Isaac’s dedication,

in the Manna’s preparation,

in the Paschal immolation,

in old types pre-signified.

Jesus, Shepherd mild and meek,

shield the poor, support the weak;

help all who Thy pardon sue,

placing all their trust in You:

fill them with Your healing grace!

Source of all we have or know,

feed and lead us here below.

grant that with Your Saints above,

sitting at the feast of love

we may see You face to face.

Amen. Alleluia.

Eucharist procession.jpg

I devoutly adore the Presence of Christ



pie pelican2.jpg

Hidden God, devoutly I adore Thee, truly present underneath
these veils: all my heart subdues itself before Thee, since it all before Thee
faints and fails.

Not to sight, or taste, or touch be credit hearing only do
we trust secure; I believe, for God the Son has said it- Word of truth that
ever shall endure.

On the cross was veiled Thy Godhead’s splendor, here Thy
manhood lies hidden too; unto both alike my faith I render, and, as sued the
contrite thief, I sue.

Though I look not on Thy wounds with Thomas, Thee, my Lord,
and Thee, my God, I call: make me more and more believe Thy promise, hope in
Thee, and love Thee over all.

O memorial of my Savior dying, Living Bread, that gives life
to man; make my soul, its life from Thee supplying, taste Thy sweetness, as on
earth it can.

Deign, O Jesus, Pelican of heaven, me, a sinner, in Thy
Blood to lave, to a single drop of which is given all the world from all its
sin to save.

Contemplating, Lord, Thy hidden presence, grant me what I thirst for and implore, in the revelation of Thy essence to behold Thy glory evermore, Amen.