“True shepherds, after my own heart,
First a Benedictine monk then a founder of an order of canons to live under the Rule of St Augustine, the Order of Premontre, the noble Norbert sought to fight heresy, to promote true devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, to dispel spiritual, to defend the papacy, work for peace, to end human indifference and reconciliation among family.
One of the key features to Saint Norbert’s spiritual life and apostolic work was his total reliance on the Lord to direct everything. He realized that his own skill set was insufficient to do much with Christ. That’s why a true Norbertine vocation is lived with one’s face turn toward the Eucharistic Lord and his feet and hands sustaining the Church.
Norbert was also the archbishop of Magdeburg. As archbishop, Norbert collaborated with the likes of Saints Bernard and Hugh in the reformation of the clergy and effecting ecclesial unity. Norbert died on this date in 1134.
Through Saint Norbert’s inspiration and prayer may we be servants of the Church outstanding in prayer, pastoral zeal and love for the people of God.
Some of senior age will remember Pope John XXIII who reigned only 5 years but did a lot in those few years: he called the 21st Ecumenical Council, aka Vatican II.
This is the wise virgin who has chosen the better part; she listened to the word of the Lord and treasured it in her heart.
In August 1873, to his Superior General:
Divine Providence, having compassion on the unfortunate, has thought fit to look upon your unworthy servant to care for the spiritual needs of a well-known leprosy hospital that our Government had to establish to preserve the whole archipelago from disease. Thus, it is in my role as pastor of an unusual parish of eight hundred lepers, nearly half of whom are now Catholics, that I take the liberty to write to you these lines.
November 9, 1887, to his brother, Father Pamphile:
As you know, it has been already quite a while that Divine Providence chose me to become a victim of this repugnant disease of ours. I hope to remain eternally grateful for this grace. It seems to me that this disease will shorten and narrow the way that will lead me to our dear homeland. In that hope accepted this disease as my particular cross; I try to bear it as did Simon of Cyrene, following in the footsteps of our Divine Master. Please assist me with your good prayers, so as to obtain for me the strength of perseverance, until I reach the summit of Calvary.
Today is a fitting day to pray for the Holy Father, Pope Benedict. Saint Catherine was a woman of great courage and vision who promoted unity with the Church. Her crusade was a crusade for souls, for the salvation of many to heart of Christ through the ministry of Christ’s vicar, the Pope. That today we are still in the Easter Octave, Siena’s feast is not being observed except in places of the Order of Preachers. We are doing so today the Church of Saint Catherine of Siena, NYC, with a Octave Mass of Easter with elements of Saint Catherine’s Mass parts intelligently placed; Holy Mass is being celebrated by the Most Rev’d Octavio Cisneros, an auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn.
How can anyone not like Saint George’s story? Whatever happened to the real cult of Saint George? Does the saint have contemporary relevance for us today? What witness does he offer the “post-modern” people we purport to be? Do we still struggle against Satan, the evil one, the great tempter? How do deal with the noontime devil that seeks to divide us from a filial relationship with God? Jesuit Father George Nedungatt, professor emeritus of the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Rome) wrote an essay “Saint George without the Dragon” explaining contemporary –at least since Vatican II– Church’s remembrance of and prayerful reliance on, the Lord’s dragon slayer. As the summary of the article says, “The post-conciliar reform has entered the liturgical celebration of St. George [on April 23] amidst the facultative memoirs, attributing the historical date of his martyrdom in Lydda circa 303. It follows the protest, both by those who have chosen St. George as patron and, and for opposing reasons, by those who deny the killing of the dragon by the saint. To shed light on the issue, the article distinguishes between the current liturgical (the cult certificated since ancient time on the saint’s tomb), and the literary tendency, (legends based on his figure as a symbol of the struggle against the forces of evil).” You can read about Saint George in La Civiltà Cattolica (3859, 2011, II, pp. 20-29).
Subtle
differences need certain light in a canonization process. Scholasticism
advocates that we always distinguish. Benedict XVI will be beatifying his
friend, colleague and boss, Pope John Paul II on May 1. So, the faithful are
asking what’s the difference between the ecclesial acts of beatification and
canonization?
The Holy See told us what’s considered to be the distinguishing
marks of any beatification. There are three differences:
What Pope Benedict has worked hard to remind the
Church, “at a beatification ceremony, the bishop of the diocese where the
person dies asks that the candidate be declared blessed; at a canonization, the
prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes speaks in the name of the whole
church and asks that the candidate be declared a saint.”
But a central
difference between a beatification and canonization is that with a canonization
there is an act of declaring dogmatically, that God has revealed this person
with Him in beatitude. Essentially, it is a matter of papal infallibility.
Being a saint is a dogmatic statement; being a blessed is not. A saint can be
liturgically commemorated at the sacred Liturgy worldwide and remembered in
other circumstances like naming buildings after the person. When the Church
says a person is a blessed, it is an administrative act of the papal office; a
blessed can be liturgically commemorated is limited to certain circumstances,
like where the person lives or in the houses of the religious congregation
should the person be a religious.