Communio – Page 287 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Saint George

The figure of Saint George is widely acknowledged across cultures. His cult, as it were, comes from Palestine; he is a heavenly patron among the Greeks and Latins. Since about AD 800 Saint George has been a patron of England and he is known elsewhere as one of the “14 Holy Helpers.”

Aside from legendary activity, George adhered to the Lord’s words and His person in that he’s known to have imitated the Passion as we see below in the opening collect for Holy Mass. No doubt his preaching, protecting and safeguarding the sacred Mysteries led people to Christ.

Let us pray that through Saint George’s intercession, and the power of the Lord’s Holy Name, the dragon of temptation and sin may be driven away by heavenly powers so as to be united in deeper communion with Christ.

And so we pray with the Church,

Extolling your
might, O Lord, we humbly implore you, that, as Saint George imitated the
Passion of the Lord, so he may lend us ready help in our weakness.

Charles Colson, RIP at 80

The famed Watergate figure who turned his soul over to Christ has died at the age of 80. He met the Lord at 3:12 pm earlier today.

The Boston paper has a story which you can contrast with the Evangel blog piece hosted by First Things on Colson; I am sure there will be many other comprehensive pieces on Mr Colson in the days ahead.

His own organization posted this tribute to Chuck. It will be remembered that “Chuck’s life is a testimony to God’s power to forgive, redeem, and transform.”

May Charles Colson rest in the peace of the Lord.

Saint Anselm

St Anselm Photo by Tony Bowden.jpg

Saint Anselm (1033-1109) is famous for saying many things, one that is easily recalled is “I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand.” We can easily say that the Lord has give us in the person of Saint Anselm one of the most eminent figures of the Middle Ages who harmonized faith and reason. To what might we attribute this harmonization? I and some others would say it was his radical mystical experience, finely attuned sense of communio with the Trinity that oriented his thought and his action. Anselm’s contemplation and action were in sync; there was no distraction in him.

Saint Anselm knew and taught us, according to Pope Benedict, that “a true theologian’s work is divided into three stages: faith, God’s gratuitous gift to be welcomed with humility; experience, which consists in incarnating the Word of God into daily life; and true knowledge, which is never the fruit of sterile reasoning but of contemplative intuition.”

photo: Tony Bowden

New evangelizers in the United States

The April 21, 2012 issue of L’Osservatore Romano ran this editorial on the work of the evangelization in the United States. We are getting noticed for our zeal for the Gospel. Perhaps we colonialists do have something to contribute to the life of the Church universal.

“Join us in a journey to re-discover the faith or answer questions about reconnecting with the Catholic Church”. This is the call of the document by the Bishops of the United States which intends renew with great strength the mission of spreading and proclaiming the Gospel. The episcopate’s initiative, written for the modern man and for the benefit of the whole community, is centred on references to the Pontifical Magisterium and to other interventions of the episcopate.

The

Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization is the title chosen for the document that “focuses on reaching out to Catholics, practicing or not, who have lost a sense of the faith in an effort to re-energize them”, as described in a note by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

It was chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, Bishop David Laurin Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, to point out this new duty, stating: “Every Catholic has a role in the Church, and every Catholic is called to spread the Gospel”. But he adds “in order to evangelize, a person must first be evangelized. This is really the heart of the New Evangelization”. The document especially highlights the call of Pope Benedict XVI to pursue the New Evangelization with renewed vigor and joy.

Continue reading New evangelizers in the United States

7 years of papal service: working in the Lord’s vineyard, Benedict XVI

May the Lord bless and protect Pope Benedict XVI!

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

The Church, today, give us Blessed –soon-to-be canonized Kateri Tekakwitha today as a model of evangelization and the desire one has for Christ. Pope Benedict renewed our attention to Blessed Kateri in 2008:

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, and Padre Felix Varela: any one of us could be among them, for there is no stereotype to this group, no single mold. Yet a closer look reveals that there are common elements. Inflamed with the love of Jesus, their lives became remarkable journeys of hope. For some, that meant leaving home and embarking on a pilgrim journey of thousands of miles. For each there was an act of abandonment to God, in the confidence that he is the final destination of every pilgrim. And all offered an outstretched hand of hope to those they encountered along the way, often awakening in them a life of faith. Through orphanages, schools and hospitals, by befriending the poor, the sick and the marginalized, and through the compelling witness that comes from walking humbly in the footsteps of Jesus, these six people laid open the way of faith, hope and charity to countless individuals, including perhaps your own ancestors.

Yearning for the riches of the Lord’s glory

The Incredulity of Thomas is likely one of the most identifiable images for Christians to meditate on. It is for me. Few artists can trigger my Catholic imagination as Caravaggio can. As I run through my day, I keep as a constant refrain in my mind the sentence from St Mark’s gospel: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. Today, following from Divine Mercy Sunday, meditating on John 20:26-29 is a needed mercy.

The medieval abbot, theologian and mystic William of St. Thierry (1085-1148) has the following to say about the topic of mercy:

Continue reading Yearning for the riches of the Lord’s glory

Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization

The group deputed to work with questions and programs on the teachings of the Catholic faith and the sharing of that faith with others, USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis published “Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization.” There are a lot of great resources herein. The opening paragraphs are here:

Christ commands us to be his witnesses to the ends of
the earth. We are to proclaim his Good News to all people, everywhere and at all times. After Christ promises the disciples that the Holy Spirit will come upon them, he ascends into heaven. The disciples, rather than heeding Christ’s command to be his witnesses, stare “intently at the sky.” It takes “two men dressed in white garments” asking, “Men of Galilee, why are you . . . looking at the sky?” for the disciples to begin to realize the meaning of Christ’s command (Acts 1:10-11).

How often do we fail to realize that we are called to be Christ’s witnesses to the world? Do we realize that our Baptism, Confirmation, and reception of the Eucharist bestow on us the grace we need to be disciples? Are we like the disciples staring at the sky rather than inviting those around us to experience Christ’s love and mercy through the Church? How often do we reach out to our missing brothers and sisters by inviting them to join us at Mass or by asking why they no longer feel welcomed at the Lord’s Table? The answers to these questions underlie the evangelizing mission of the Church, especially in the call of the New Evangelization

The New Evangelization seeks to invite modern man and culture into a relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church. The New Evangelization strives to engage our culture and to help us draw our inspiration from the Gospel. The New Evangelization calls all Catholics first to be evangelized and then in turn to evangelize. While it is directed to all people, the New Evangelization focuses specifically on those Christian communities that have Catholic roots but have “lost the living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church…”

The Fortnight for freedom – a proposal of prayer for matters of freedom

Our Catholic bishops in American published “Our
First, Most Cherished Liberty,” a12-page statement by the Ad Hoc Committee
on Religious Liberty that sets out to explain what religious freedom means to a
Catholic and it also calls for “a fortnight for freedom” from June 21,
the vigil of the feasts of Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More, to July 4,
US Independence Day.

The matter of our freedom is not merely an activist mentality, but it is centrally located in our prayer life. AND that’s what we should do– pray. This is what the bishops propose:

We suggest that the
fourteen days from June 21–the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St.
Thomas More–to July 4, Independence Day, be dedicated to this “fortnight for
freedom”–a great hymn of prayer for our country. Our liturgical calendar celebrates
a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by
political power–St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, SS.
Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. Culminating on
Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public
action would emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty.
Dioceses and parishes around the country could choose a date in that period for
special events that would constitute a great national campaign of teaching and
witness for religious liberty.

In addition to this summer’s observance, we also
urge that the Solemnity of Christ the King–a feast born out of resistance to
totalitarian incursions against religious liberty–be a day specifically
employed by bishops and priests to preach about religious liberty, both here
and abroad.

And we pray….

Almighty God, Father of all nations,

For freedom you have set us
free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of
religious liberty,

the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common
good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;

By
your grace may we have the courage to defend them,

for ourselves and for all
those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary
Immaculate, our patroness, and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen.

O day of resurrection!

Let us beam with God’s own
pride!

Let everyone embrace in joy!

Let us warmly greet those we meet and treat
them all like brothers,

even those who hate us, for in His rising from the dead
is all grace and pardon!

Let all the earth resound with this song:

Christ is
risen from the dead, conquering death by death,

and on those in the grave
bestowing life!!!