Paul Zalonski – Page 510

The Franciscan Life…a lived reality of the heart & Will of God

The General Chapter of the Franciscan Order is meeting right now in Assisi. This is a privileged time of fraternity because it gives the brotherhood to review the past 800 years and sets in motion a vision for living that follows more closely in the footsteps of Saint Francis and Christ crucified and risen. The friars produced a terrific video that’s hopeful and powerful. You can view “I dream of a Franciscan Life” here.

Keep the Franciscans (OFM) in prayer as they review their manner of life and prepare to elected a new minister general. You can follow the important moments of the Chapter at the link above.

First Principle and Foundation: a fundamental spiritual teaching of Loyola

The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit.

All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.

As a result, we appreciate and use all of these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons.

But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal.

In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation.

We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or short one.

For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to the deepening of God’s life in me.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Spiritual Exercises (a new trans.)

Pope speaks with the young

On May 30^th, the Vigil of Pentecost, Pope
Benedict answered three questions of young people with extraordinary simplicity. The tenderness of the Pope’s answers is breadth-taking. This it the second time he’s
taken questions from the youth. The following is Alessandro’s question and you can read the rest of questions here. Plus, visit the Holy Childhood Association website AND get involved with their mission as the Pope encourages.

Dear Pope Benedict, you are the first missionary. How can we
young people help you to proclaim the Gospel?

Answer: I would say that one initial way is this: work with the
Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood. In this way you are part of a great
family that brings the Gospel to the world. In this way you belong to a great
network. We see here how the family of the different peoples is reflected. You
are in this great family: each one does his part, and together you are
missionaries, bearers of the missionary work of the Church. You have an
excellent program: to listen, pray, learn, share, support. These are essential
elements that really are a way of being missionary, of advancing the growth of
the Church and the presence of the Gospel in the world. I would like to
highlight some of these points.

First of all, prayer. Prayer is a reality: God listens to
us, and when we pray, God enters into our lives, he becomes present among us,
active. Prayer is a very important thing, which can change the world, because
it makes the power of God present. And it is important to help each other to
pray: we pray together in the liturgy, we pray together in the family. And here
I would say that it is important to begin the day with a little prayer, and
also to end the day with a little prayer: remembering our parents in prayer.
Pray before lunch, before dinner, and on the occasion of the common celebration
on Sunday. A Sunday without the Mass, the great common prayer of the Church, is
not a real Sunday: the heart of Sunday is missing, and with it the light of the
week. And you can also help others – especially when there are no prayers at
home, when prayer is unknown – you can teach others to pray: pray with others
and introduce them to communion with God.

Next, listening, which means really learning what Jesus
tells us. Moreover, knowing the Sacred Scripture, the Bible. In the story of
Jesus, we come to know the face of God, we learn what God is like. It is
important to know Jesus deeply, personally. This is how he enters into our
lives, and, through our lives, enters into the world.

And also sharing, not wanting things for ourselves alone,
but for all; sharing with others. And if we see another who may be in need, who
is less fortunate, we must help him and in this way make the love of God
present without big words, in our little personal world, which is part of the
big world. And in this way we become a family together, where each respects the
other: bearing with the other in his uniqueness, even accepting those we don’t
like, not letting anyone be marginalized, but helping him to be part of the
community. All of this simply means living in this big family of the Church, in
this big missionary family.

Living the essential points like sharing, knowing Jesus, prayer, listening to each other, and solidarity is a missionary activity, because it helps the Gospel to become a reality in our world.

Julius J. Zalonski: RIP on the 22nd

Today is the 22nd anniversary of death of my paternal grandfather, Julius Zalonski. He died after nearly four months of serious health issues. In 1987, Grampi was the first of my grandparents to go to the Lord. His death, like all deaths in a family leave a hole the heart, even 22 years later.

I find the fact that I had four grandparents as a part of life for my first 18 years is in fact a singular grace. He was a strong, quiet, serious, faithful man. The countless times I spent with my grandfather are still very present to me. My grandfather was a steel worker and a farmer, a brother, a husband and father of 4, and a grandfather of 6.

Lord God, almighty Father, You have made the cross for us a sign of strength and marked us as Yours in the sacrament of the resurrection. Now that you have freed our brother Julius from this mortal life make him one with Your saints in heaven.

Avery Cardinal Dulles finally laid to rest

Our friend is finally resting in peace.

Avery Cardinal
Dulles, S.J., was buried on June 1 at the Shrine of the
North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY. He died on December 12^th.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated December 18^th at the
Cathedral of Saint Patrick by Cardinal Edward Egan.

Cardinal Dulles was the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of
Religion and Society at Fordham University since 1988. He was the first
American to become a cardinal without first becoming a bishop.

The Sacrifice of Mass celebrated by Bishop Howard Hubbard
for the soul of Cardinal Dulles at the Coliseum Church on the grounds of the shine. The
Cardinal received an escort by a pair of Naval officers, in recognition of
Cardinal Dulles’ military service during Second World War.

The Shrine of the North American Martyrs is the only one of its kind in the USA. There rests the Jesuit martyrs Saints Rene Goupil (1642), Isaac Jogues (1646), John Laland (1646) and others. New York Province Jesuits are buried in the cemetery at the Shrine.

Newman’s biographer resists the revisionists

The recent article in the UK’s Catholic Herald of John Henry Newman’s biographer who takes on the gay revisionists who try to rewrite the life of the late convert-cardinal-now-saint-hopeful. Father Ian Kerr defends Newman by trying to understand the meaning of the man’s life and words. I think the 19th century priest Father St. John is correct: we’ve lost a concept of affectionate friendship that’s not sexual.

Father Ragheed Ganni: a martyr’s 2nd anniversary of death

Today, it seems, is a day of remembering because it is an anniversary of two important witnesses of Jesus Christ: one is Blessed Pope John XXIII and the other is the 35 year old Iraqi priest, Father Ragheed Ganni. A Chaldean Catholic priest, Ganni was killed with three of his deacons after celebrating the Holy Mysteries. Forced from their car they were told to renounce faith in Christ and make their submission to Islam. They refused to renounce Christ and were gunned down.

Lord, you gave Ragheed Ganni Your servant and priest the privilege of a holy mystery in this world. May he rejoice for ever in the glory of Your kingdom.

Sandro Magister’s essay on Father Ganni’s last Mass…

Here is the story of Father Ganni published on the first anniversary of his death.

On 27 January 2009, Pope Benedict received the priestly vestments of Father Ganni and those of another witness to Jesus Christ, Archbishop Paul Rahho.

46th Anniversary of Blessed Pope John XXIII’s death

Today we observe the 46th anniversary of the death of a
great Father of the Church, Blessed John XXIII (known in history as Angelo Giuseppi
Roncalli). Many will remember him as the “smiling pope”. He was the
pope of senior age who called the Second Vatican Council.

In the course of time the Church has recognized this pope’s holiness and he was declared a “blessed” by Pope John Paul II. Blessed John’s liturgical memorial is observed on 11 October
and he is the patron of papal delegations.

Pope John Paul II thoughts of Pope John are a fantastic summary of John’s beauty:

Everyone remembers the image of Pope John’s smiling face and
two outstretched arms embracing the whole world. How many people were won over
by his simplicity of heart, combined with a broad experience of people and
things! The breath of newness he brought certainly did not concern doctrine,
but rather the way to explain it; his style of speaking and acting was new, as
was his friendly approach to ordinary people and to the powerful of the world.
It was in this spirit that he called the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,
thereby turning a new page in the Church’s history Christians heard themselves
called to proclaim the Gospel with renewed courage and greater attentiveness to
the “signs” of the times. The Council was a truly prophetic insight of this
elderly Pontiff who, even amid many difficulties, opened a season of hope for
Christians and for humanity. In the last moments of his earthly life, he
entrusted his testament to the Church: “What counts the most in life is blessed
Jesus Christ, his holy Church, his Gospel, truth and goodness”

God our Father, you reward all who believe in You. May Your servant, John XXIII, our Pope, vicar of Peter, and shepherd of Your Church, who faithfully administered the mysteries of Your forgiveness and love on earth, rejoice with You for ever in heaven.

Born: 25 November 1881

Professed as a Secular Franciscan: 23 May 1897

Ordained priest: 10 August 1904

Appointed Apostolic Visitator in Bulgaria: 3 March 1925

Ordained bishop: 19 March 1925

Appointed Apostolic Delegate in Turkey & Greece: 12
January 1935

Appointed Nuncio in France: 23 December 1944

Created cardinal & Patriarch of Venice: 12 & 15
January 1953

Elected pope: 28 October 1958

Died: 3 June 1963

Beatified: 3 September 2000

Becoming like Christ

Pay attention! The author has something really important to say:

The Encyclical Mystici Corporis says expressly:
the Holy Spirit is communicated to the Church so that she and each of her
members may become daily more and more like to our Savior. Those whom God
foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29);
every Christian is holy and pleasing to God to the extent that he has become
like Christ.

And it is the Holy Spirit who is the artisan who will
fashion the traits of the divine resemblance in us, making us daily more and
more like to our Savior. If we would cooperate fully with his action, each day
would witness some progress in our becoming more like Christ.

Struck by this thought, [Blessed] Sr. Elizabeth of the Trinity prayed:
Spirit of love, descend within me and reproduce in me as it were, an
incarnation of the Word, that I may be to him another humanity; wherein he
renews his mystery.

If Christ is the model to which all the baptized should
conform, there is no presumption in aspiring to become so like him that he can
renew his mystery in us, or rather, prolong in us his work of glorifying the
Father and of redeeming men. Indeed this is exactly Jesus’ desire in sending us
his Spirit.

Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, OCD, Divine Intimacy

Saint Charles Lwanga & companions

The African martyrs add another page to the martyrology–the
Church’s role of honor–an occasion both of mourning and of joy. This is a page
worthy in every way to be added to the annals of that Africa of earlier times
which we, living in this era and being people of little faith, never expected
to be repeated.

In earlier times there occurred those famous deeds, so
moving to the spirit, of the martyrs of Scilli, of Carthage and of that “white
robed army” of Utica commemorated by Saint Augustine and Prudentius; of the
martyrs of Egypt so highly praised by Saint John Chrysostom and of the martyrs
of the Vandal persecution. Who would have thought that in our days we should
have witnessed events as heroic and glorious?

Who could have predicted to the famous African confessors
and martyrs such as Cyprian, Felicity, Perpetua and the greatest of all,
Augustine, that we would one day add the names so dear to us as Charles Lwanga
and Matthias Mulumba Lekemba and their twenty companions? Nor must we forget
those members of the Anglican Church who also died for the name of Christ.

These African martyrs herald the dawn of a new age. If only
the mind of man might be directed not toward persecutions and religious
conflicts but toward a rebirth of Christianity and civilization!

Africa has been washed by the blood of these latest martyrs,
the first of this new age (and, God willing, let them be the last, although
such a holocaust is precious indeed). Africa is reborn free and independent.

The infamous crime by which these young men were put to
death was so unspeakable and so expressive of the times. It shows us clearly
that a new people needs a moral foundation, needs new spiritual customs firmly
planted, to be handed down to posterirty. Symbolically, this crime also reveals
that a simple and rough way of life -enriched by many fine human qualities yet
enslaved by its own weakness and corruption–must give way to a more civilized
life wherein the higher expressions of the mind and better social conditions
prevail. (Pope Paul VI, homily at the canonization of St Charles, 1963)

Father, You have made the blood of the martyrs the seed of Christians. May the witness of Saint Charles and his companions and their loyalty to Christ in the face of torture inspire countless men and women to live the Christian faith.