My Dad is 72 today. Happy Birthday!
Here’s a picture of both my Mom and Dad after lunch today.
May God grant many years!
Category: PAZ & Friends
NDHS legend Brother Benjamin celebrates a birthday
Notre Dame High School (West Haven, CT) legend and friend to all Brother Benjamin Sunday, C.S.C., recently celebrated his birthday!
In true Brother Benjamin style, he wouldn’t tell us what day nor how old he is, but we wanted to wish him a happy birthday publically nonetheless! But he can’t be more than 55.
To view a photo album of Brother Benjamin pictures through the years, please visit the ND photo album page .
Happy Birthday and abundant blessings, Brother Benjamin!
Celebrating a priest’s 25th
Today, we celebrated a friend’s 25th anniversary of priestly ordination. The Very Reverend Canon Matthew R. Maurielo, priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, was honored by a host of family and friends. His parents were especially joyous.
Holy Mass was celebrated at Father Matthew’s parish, Saint Roch’s (Greenwich, CT) by his friend and spiritual father the Most Reverend Arthur J. Serratelli, bishop of Paterson, NJ.
With the Church we pray,
Holy Father, who by no merit of his own, you chose Father Matthew for communion with the eternal priesthood of your Christ and for the ministry of your Church, grant that he may be an ardent yet gentle preacher of the Gospel and a faithful steward of your mysteries.
Father Matthew is the author of Mercies Remembered (2011).
Ad multos annos, Don Mateo!
Life is changed, not ended
The funeral rites of the Catholic Church say it all:
In him the hope of blessed resurrection has dawned, that those saddened by the certainty of dying might be consoled by the promise of immortality to come. Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven. (Preface I For the Dead)
Earlier today I went to the Mass of Christian Burial of a childhood friend who lost her fight against breast cancer at the age of 40. Maureen Leary Minnick grew up near me, she and her family have been friends of my family for years; her parents are daily communicants at the local Catholic parish and her brother and I were in the Boy Scouts and in high school together. I am saddened by Maureen’s death. Much was revealed about Maureen that I didn’t know but now cherish. Time has a way of being a great separator. Maureen faced her life and death in the same way: with courage, love, joy, resolution to make life better. In short, her life was not a fairy tale but one that had certainty of faith and joy. She leaves a great husband and two small boys (who have their mother’s good looks). Maureen died on July 1.
The paradox of the Christian life is such that in order to live fully we have to give it away. In Maureen’s case, she had to offer her life to the Lord earlier that most.
This week, too, a friend at the parish had succumbed also to breast cancer after a long and bitter fight with that disease. Monika Forndran fought long and hard and with dignity; she clearly knew that her Calvary was like that of the Lord’s, and that His triumph over sin and death was also hers by adoption that happened in the resurrection. Monika’s death happened on June 30.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of us all, Saint Agatha, patron saint of those who (and die) of diseases of the breast, guide Maureen and Monika to Paradise. May we recall the grace that in death life is changed not ended as rest on the heart of the Lord.
A casual summer Saturday
Saturday’s are days to catch up on things: sleep, errands, oil change for the car, watering the garden, especially the vegetables; even having lunch with a friend and dinner with my family. It was a somewhat lazy summer day. In between I made a visit to Our Lady of Grace Monastery (North Guilford, CT) for the rosary, some quiet time with the Lord and to browse the gift shop. And of course, going to Confession. You?
Happy Father’s Day 2012
Happy Father’s Day, Dad! Blessings!
Remembering Cyril
My friend Father Cyril Crawford died unexpectedly a short time ago, on 15 May 2012. He died in his sleep in Leuven (Louvain), Belgium, at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where he was working on a doctorate in Philosophy so that he could teach at his monastery’s college.
Dom Cyril, 46, was a monk and a priest of the Abbey of Saint Joseph of Covington, LA.
A photo tribute to Cyril can be seen here.
Over at The Substance of Things Hoped For, Benedictine Father Denis Robinson (Rector of Saint Meinrad Seminary) wrote a remembrance of Dom Cyril. Father Denis’ words are very true and capture Cyril well. I met Cyril at Saint Meinrad’s, in the library, and found him to be a friend.
My heart is saddened, deeply so. Cyril as a good monk, priest with an honest search for God and keen sense of humor and intellect.
More info including Abbot Justin Brown’s homily at the Mass of Christian Burial of Cyril can be found here.
Saint Benedict and Saint Cyril of Alexandria, pray for Father Cyril, and for us.
25 years later
Today marks the 25th anniversary of death of my dear grandfather, Julius J. Zalonski. I can’t believe the time has moved so quickly. The noon Mass is celebrated for him as the Mass was celebrated for my grandmother last week on her 8th anniversary.
God was very good to me in giving me the grace of good grandparents on both sides of my family. A gift that allows me to be full of gratitude. Much good and love was experienced with my grandfather, more than what I am aware…
With the Church I pray,
O God, giver of pardon and loving author of our salvation, grant, we pray you, in your mercy, that through the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever-Virign, and all the Saints, my grandfather Julius who has passed from this world 25 years ago, may attain a share in eternal happiness.
Happy Mother’s Day
Indeed, I love you Mom.
Paul
Cardinal Francis George preaches Sunday Vespers for Lent I
A Christian’s observance of Lent brings with it, I hope, a certain discipline of prayer. At The Church of Saint Catherine of Siena (411 East 68th Street, NYC) the Sundays in Lent Solemn Vespers will be celebrated at 4 pm.
The Church’s prayer is understood as consisting in Lauds, Vespers and Mass. The sacred Liturgy can’t be conceived in any other way. In fact, the Servant of God Pope Paul VI wanted parishes to celebrate the Divine Office with regularity to fill out our worship of the Triune God. And as you know, priests and religious are obligated to pray the Divine Office for the Church on a daily basis; the laity are encouraged to pray the same. At Saint Catherine’s we pray Vespers following the evening Mass (M-F) and with a more solemn character several times a year. Our praying Vespers in Lent in a more substantial way with singing psalms and hymns, preaching, vesture and incense is consistent with the tradition found with Dominicans.
Lent I: Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Lent II: Father Jordan Kelly, OP
Lent III: Father Jay Scott Newman
Lent IV: Father Joel Warden, CO
Lent V: Father Allen White, OP
Palm Sunday: Edward Cardinal Egan
Earlier this afternoon, Cardinal George’s homily was absolutely brilliant using Saint Paul’s theme of being free in Christ and viz. freedom today and the current issues we are facing in the USA with the current administration of the United States. The Church’s choirmaster, Daniel B. Sañez, and the Schola Dominicana was perfect for God’s glory.
