Paul Zalonski – Page 522

Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel

Holy Virgin, moved by the painful uncertainty we experience in seeking and aquiring the true and the good, we cast ourselves at thy feet and invoke thee under the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel. We beseech thee: come to our aid at this moment in our worldly sojourn when the twin darknesses or error and of evil that plots our ruin by leading minds and hearts astray.

Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the victims of doubt and of error so that they may not be seduced by evil masquerading as good; strengthen them against the hostile and corrupting forces of passion and of sin.

Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us from thy Divine Son the love of virtue and the strength to choose, in doubtful and difficult situations, the course agreeable to our salvation. Supported by thy hand we shall thus journey without harm along the paths taught us by the word and example of Jesus our Savior, following the Sun of Truth and Justice in freedom and safety across the battlefield of life under the guidance of thy maternal Star, until we come at length to the harbor of salvation to enjoy with thee unalloyed and everlasting peace.

Pope Pius XII

23 January 1953

Recently in the School of Community

People who follow the life of Communion & Liberation meet weekly for what is called the School of Community, a catechetical session which works on a particular idea of Msgr. Giussani’s. The catechesis is supposed to make the connection with one’s experience and a lofty theological opinion, as much as theological opinions are helpful from time-to-time. This year we are working on volume 2 of Is It Possible to Live This Way: Hope. (This follows on a book we worked on last year by a similar title though the subject then was faith and it is expected that we’ll work on volume 3 next year dealing with charity.)

Our group is faithful to coming together for the shared experience of learning the faith and sharing friendship. A great grace indeed.

Last evening we had the distinct privilege of welcoming the Master of the Order of Preachers, Father Carlos Azpiroz-Costa for 15 minutes to our meeting. Father Carlos is the successor of Saint Dominic de Guzman. He took a personal interest in all of us. He’s here in the US doing the work of the Order. Without prompting he mentioned that he’s speaking with the Dominicans (and others) about the intimate connection between faith and reason as particularly being Catholic and very needed today. Hence, he’s fleshing out the work of Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict. Father Carlos was incredibly encouraging of our friendship and work with the local priory of Dominicans in New Haven. May God grant him many blessings!

Cardinal Newman is set for beatification

The London Telegraph ran a story about the theologians’ acceptance/approval of the miracle put forward by Cardina John Henry Newman’s postulator. It’s an American helping a Brit. Now the information is on the Pope’s desk. “People” are hoping for a beatification ceremony in the autumn. Deo volente. Read the story here.

Saint Mark

O ye holy and just ones, rejoice in the Lord, alleluia. God hath chosen you unto Himself for an inheritance, alleluia.

O God, Who didst exalt blessed Mark, Thine Evangelist, by the grace of teaching Thy Gospel; grant we beseech Thee, that we may ever profit by his teachings and be defended by his prayers.

The real agenda of Pope Benedict

Often we hear assertions by the media (and others) that they know what a person is thinking, or better, what he’ll do next and why. This is certainly true when talking about the pope: Vatican watchers (speculators?) think they have the pope pinpointed. Much of what is said in the media is a string of partial understandings: one would hope that we could just say we are making a prediction so when it doesn’t materialize we don’t run away with our heads hung low. Of course human nature seems to want to be right all the time to garner power, fame and even money. Intrigue is rather boring 99% of the time. That said, there are a few people who modestly have an understanding of Benedict XVI which we ought to note.

The longtime friend and collaborator of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, Msgr. Massimo Camisasca, also the founder of the Priestly Fraternity Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, wrote an OP-Ed piece, “The Method Of Benedict XVI

” for the online daily Il Sussidiario.net where he outlines a few important things in understanding Pope Benedict. Msgr. Camisasca is providing neither a comprehensive nor exhaustive look into Benedict’s life and work but is noting the evident things that many seem to miss. Consider the following themes:

1. there’s preference for a person’s interior change; the Pope relies on theological premise of conversatio morum (conversion of life/attitude) wrought by the Holy Spirit: nothing is impossible with God;

2. Catholic life necessarily entails a focus on the Church’s Liturgy which is rich in tradition because it is our first theology, that is, all else is derivative from the Liturgy: “…manifestation of God’s absolute prior initiative in human life, his grace, his mercy, and at the same time his ability to intervene in history, to give shape to existence, to accompany, visibly and invisibly, the paths of the cosmos toward their recapitulation” (above cited article); among other things read the Pope’s homilies because there’s an theological/spiritual itinerary that we need to be aware of but it’s found in this medium;

3. consider the initiatives found in the Years of Saint Paul and Saint John Vianney; what is more is more important than evangelization and priesthood? I would also add the work of the Synods of Bishops on the Word of God and the forthcoming one on Africa;

4. go east: think of Christian life in China which by all accounts has not been a raging success.

Aside from the normal cliches of recognizing that some call Pope Benedict the “new Leo the Great” or the “new Augustine” Msgr. Camisasca rightly focuses our attention on some rather important areas of concern for Benedict which also should concern us if we want to follow his lead to Christ. Instead of focusing on Benedict perhaps we focus on Christ through the lens of Benedict.

Only within the heart of the Church is the Word of God authentic, Pope Benedict says

The Pontifical Biblical Commission (PBC) during their annual plenary assembly this week has been working on the theme of “Inspiration and Truth in the Bible,” as a result of the October 2008 synod of bishops on the Word of God.

In his address to the PBC the Pope spoke of the importance of sacred Scripture because it “concerns not only believers, but the Church herself, because the Church’s life and mission necessarily rest upon the Word of God, which is the soul of theology and, at the same time, the inspiration of all of Christian life…the interpretation of sacred Scripture is of vital importance for Christian faith and for the life of the Church.”

According to the Holy Father: “From a correct approach to the concept of divine inspiration and truth in sacred Scripture derive certain norms that directly concern its interpretation. The Constitution Dei Verbum, having affirmed that God is the author of the Bible, reminds us that in sacred Scripture God speaks to mankind in a human manner. For a correct interpretation of Scripture we must, then, carefully examine what the hagiographers really sought to say and what God was pleased to reveal with their words.”

Drawing his remarks from the Second Vatican Council, the Pope reminded the PBC –and us– that are “three perennially valid criteria for interpreting sacred Scripture in accordance with the Spirit that inspired it. In the first place, great attention must be given to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture. Indeed, however different the books it contains may be, sacred Scripture is one by virtue of the unity of God’s plan, of which Jesus Christ is the center and the heart. In the second place, Scripture must be read in the context of the living tradition of the entire Church [because tradition] carries the living memory of the Word of God, and it is the Holy Spirit who provides her with the interpretation thereof in accordance with its spiritual meaning. The third criterion concerns the need to pay attention to the analogy of the faith; that is, to the cohesion of the individual truths of faith, both with one another and with the overall plan of Revelation and the fullness of the divine economy enclosed in that plan.

Thinking with the Church the work of scholars, in the mind of the mind of the Holy Father, is to “contribute, following the above-mentioned principles, to a more profound interpretation and exposition of the meaning of sacred Scripture. The academic study of the sacred texts is not by itself sufficient. In order to respect the coherence of the Church’s faith, Catholic exegetes must be careful to perceive the Word of God in these texts, within the faith of the Church. The interpretation of sacred Scriptures cannot be merely an individual academic undertaking, but must always be compared with, inserted into, and authenticated by the living tradition of the Church. This norm is essential in order to ensure a correct and reciprocal exchange between exegesis and Church magisterium. Catholic exegetes do not nourish the individualistic illusion that biblical texts can be better understood outside the community of believers. The opposite is true, because these texts were not given to individual scholars ‘to satisfy their curiosity or to provide them with material for study and research.’ The texts inspired by God were entrusted to the community of believers, to the Church of Christ, to nourish the faith and to guide the life of charity. Sacred Scripture is the Word of God in that is written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Tradition, on the other hand, integrally transmits the Word of God as entrusted by Christ the Lord and by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and their successors so that they, illuminated by the Spirit of truth, could faithfully conserve, explain and spread it through their preaching. Only within the ecclesial context, can Sacred Scripture be understood as the authentic Word of God which is the guide, norm and rule for the life of the Church and the spiritual development of believers.”

If this is certain, then it means “rejecting all interpretations that are subjective or limited to mere analysis [and therefore] incapable of accepting the global meaning which, over the course of the centuries, has guided the Tradition of the entire people of God.”

Remembering the Bard, William Shakespeare

Today marks William Shakespeare’s 445th birthday.

Today also marks the 393rd anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death.

Some note that there is a record of his baptism on April 26,1564. With many important figures such as Shakespeare, it is common to list the date of birth and death as the day when accurate records lack.

Whatever the case is, we honor the Bard today.

Reviewing Gerard Manley Hopkins

I was poking around the Religion & Ethics Newweekly and found a review of David Anderson’s review of several books on the 19th century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins. His essay,The Grandeur of God and the Life of a Poet, takes the reader through a number of recent studies on the life and work of this rather beautiful, if not complicated Jesuit priest.

I highly recommend this review and the reading of at least one of the reviewed works if you want to lay claim to being liberally educated.

What’s helpful here is that there’s a list of related books. A good feature, I say.

David Anderson’s review…

Saint George

Ye daughters of Jerusalem, come and see the Martyrs with the crowns wherewith the Lord hath crowned them, on the day of their solemn feast and rejoicing, alleluia, alleluia.

O God, Who dost gladden us by the merits and intercession of blessed George. Thy Martyr; mercifully grant that as we seek Thy blessings through him, we may obtain them by the gift of Thy grace.

Blessed Maria Gabriella dell’Unità (Sagghedù)

…that they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:21).

In simplicity of heart I gladly offer everything, O Lord.
The Lord put me on this path, he will remember to sustain me in battle.
To His mercy I entrust my frailty.
I saw in front of me a big cross…,

I thought that my sacrifice was nothing in comparison to His.
I offered myself entirely and I do not withdraw the given word.
God’s will whatever it may be, this is my joy, my happiness, my peace.
I will never be able to thank enough.
I cannot say but these words:” My God, your Glory.”

Blessed Maria Gabriella

Praying for unity is not a matter reserved only to those who actually experience the lack of unity among Christians. In the deep personal dialogue which each of us must carry on with the Lord in prayer, concern for unity cannot be absent. Only in this way, in fact, will that concern fully become part of the reality of our life and of commitments we have taken on in the Church. It was in order to reaffirm this duty that I set before the faithful of the Catholic Church a model which I consider exemplary, the model of a Trappistine Sister, Blessed Maria Gabriella of Unity, whom I beatified on 25 January 1983. Sister Maria Gabriella, called by her vocation to be apart from the world, devoted her life to meditation and prayer centered on Chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel and offered her life for Christian Unity. This is truly the cornerstone of all prayer: the total and unconditional offering of one’s life to the Father; through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. The example of Sister Mara Gabriella is instructive; it helps us to understand that there are no special times, situations, or places of prayer for unity. Christ’s prayer to the Father is offered as a model for everyone, always and everywhere.

(Pope John Paul II, Ut unum sint, 1995, 27)

Read more of the blessed’s life here and here.