Here are photos from yesterday‘s pro-life Mass and rosary procession from NY’s Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
22 January 2013 is the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in the USA. A Catholic New York article speaks of positive signs of change.
The March for Life will happen on Friday, 25 January, Washington, DC.
Thanks to George Goss for the pictures.
You are invited to the book presentation of Jesus of Nazareth: the Infancy Narratives by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), presented by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., the Archbishop of Chicago.
Human dignity is not respected: people are treated as objects and the “virtual reality“ encourages us to see people as objects to be manipulated. While many will challenge this idea, there is no doubt that fear of living and a rejection of true happiness in this life drives us postmoderns to euthanize the self (think of the recent suicide pack of deaf twins), or the growing selection of the desired sex and traits of babies (girls aren’t wanted in this country either) or the marginalization of the elderly and mentally challenged. Members of our society kill children because the are are seen as threats to freedom, to our lifestyle, or position in society. I don’t think it is an overstatement to quote Pope John Paul II who said we live in a culture of death. Think of Newtown and Aurora, think of many cities were abortion, murder, rape, poverty, unemployment, homelessness, isolation and thievery are rampant. And sex is rarely seen as a beautiful event shared between a married couple and that we relate to one another within the family unit.
Today we recognize that Roe v. Wade is 40 years old and c. 55 million lives have been lost.
Merely remembering is not enough. We all need to work for a culture of love, a culture of life. Prayer is essential, but the Holy Spirit requires that His grace be extroverted. Contemplation and action….
Let’s agree to follow the promptings of the Church and build a culture of LOVE.
Perhaps we can gather to have time for mental prayer, or to pray the Rosary and the Chaplet at 3pm.
From the US bishops we have this Mass rubric:
In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life. The Mass “For the Preservation of Peace and Justice” (no. 30 of the “Masses for Various Needs”) should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate liturgical observance for this day.
General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 373
We pray, Thee O Almighty and Eternal God! Who through Jesus Christ hast revealed Thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of Thy mercy, that Thy Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue with unchanging faith in the confession of Thy Name.
We pray Thee, who alone art good and holy, to endow with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal, and sanctity of life, our chief bishop, Pope Benedict, XVI, the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the government of his Church; our own bishop, Donald, all other bishops, prelates, and pastors of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise amongst us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct Thy people into the ways of salvation.
We pray Thee O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.
Continue reading Prayer for the President of the United States of America
Saint Agnes of Rome
What I longed for, I now see; what I hoped for, I now possess; in heaven I am espoused to him whom on earth I loved with all my heart.
Saint Agnes raised her hands and prayed: Holy Father, hear me. I am coming to you whom I have loved, whom I have sought and always desired.
The feast of Agnes, like the other virgin martyrs of the Church point to the fact that loving Christ is no easy fact, even when the burning desire of the heart is tangible. Much suffering, much rejection, unto death, is the sign of discipleship. In many ways the line from yesterday’s gospel, “Do what he tells you” is very exacting today with Agnes.
The cost of being in love with Jesus Christ and the willingness to suffer for and with His sacrament, the Church, is as much a reality today in all parts of the world as it was for Agnes in hers.
Let is pray for persecuted Christians, those who desire to belong to Christ but can’t.
Three things came at me recently that I think needs to be looked at with intellectual and affective honesty. That is, from a perspective of faith and reason, the mind and the heart. The issue of how we receive Holy Communion.
[T]he sacraments constitute the events of a time which is the tension between the Resurrection and the Parousia …. Thus during the delay of the Parousia, the Eucharist prevents humanity, in this foretaste of celestial food …. And the Eucharist is the sacrament of unity which gathers about Christ of glory, present in the community, all nations in order to offer them through His hands to the Father.
Saint Anthony, father of Monks, intercede for the monastic life in the present day for the monks and nuns can live his consecration in awe and charity at all pleasing only to God.
Saint Anthony Anthony of the Desert (c. 251-356) was a friend of God, and therefore a son and brother to others. His friendship with God flowed from his obedience (his listening to and building his relationship).
He’s known as the founder of monasticism. His rule of life established guidelines for living together as Christians. This is what came to be known as “monastic,” the intense and purpose driven living of the Gospel. Following the death of his parents and providing for his younger sister, Anthony became a monk at 20; his method was to live in total solitude on a desert mountain near the Nile River and eating only bread and water, which he never tasted before sunset, and sometimes only once in two, three, or four days. In the spiritual life the desert is the place to do battle with sin. Anthony shows us that it possible to overcome the temptations of the devil; emerging about 20 years later from total seclusion to instruct hermits in the ways of the Gospel, monasticism, Anthony gave witness to the power of Jesus Christ in his capacity to the heal the sick, being a spiritual father, by casting out demons and preaching. From him we begin to realize that not everything lasts forever. It is said that he lived at least to 100 years.
It is Saint Athanasius’s Life of Saint Anthony that perpetuates the narrative and inspired waves of monks who civilized and evangelized Europe and the Near East. Anthony established a monastery between the Nile and the Red Sea, which exists today.
Saint Anthony, pray for us. Help is to renew and in some cases, refound the monastic living.