Capuchins in Japan connect thru prayer and friendship following the disaster

Capcuhin connections with Japan.jpeg

Father, grant the people of Japan comfort in their suffering, courage when afraid, and patience in the many afflictions and the concrete and prayerful solidarity of the world.

Here is a report of some of the Capuchins who serve in Japan. Let us  be in solidarity with our Japanese sisters and brothers who are suffering. 
To help the relief, visit this site.

Saint Benedict through the eyes of Saint Anselm

c. 1437-1446

Image via Wikipedia

A reading from a sermon by St. Aelred


As today we
celebrate the passing of our holy Father Benedict, I am obliged to say
something about him, especially because I observe that you are eager to listen.
Like good sons you have come together to hear about your Father who, in Christ
Jesus, gave birth to you in the Gospel. Because we know that he has passed
beyond, let us see where he came from and where he has gone.

He came from where
we still are, of course, and he has gone on to that place to which we have not
yet come. And while we are not physically there where he has gone, we are there
in hope and love, as our Redeemer has told us: Where your treasure is, there
also is your heart. Thus the Apostle said: Our dwelling place is in heaven.
Indeed, Saint Benedict himself, while he lived physically in this world, dwelt
in thought and desire in the heavenly Fatherland.
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Archbishop Dolan on 60 Minutes

TM Dolan1.jpg60 Minutes aired Morely Safer’s interview with Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan tonight. Watch Safer on Dolan.

This is a profile of a man who is interesting and does interesting things. He’s affable, joyable, personable, cigar smoking with an eloquent defense of Catholic dogma and belief.

If you want to know more about what the “American Pope” thinks gay marriage, politics, etc, watch 60 Minutes Overtime.
Morely Safer comes at the interview with what I and others will call a secular, modernist viewpoint and is dismissive of the Archbishop without objectivity nor does he evoke from the Archbishop a clarity of thought. Safer, 79, freely admits that as a man and as a Jewish he wants to know more because “these type of men” are good company. Good. I agree. But I had hoped that Safer would have done a better job getting at substantive theological and philosophical foundations of the Catholic Church.
60 Minutes opened a few interesting doors into the person and ministry of the Archbishop of NY. But the report also veered into sentimentality that is thin as gruel. One does not have to sell church! Clear Catholic teaching is not based on polls and trends. Truth stands on its own two feet.

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Calling to Continuing Conversion

Dolan preaching Mar 20 2011.jpgEarlier this afternoon at St Patrick’s Cathedral, hundreds of people gathered to formally state their intention to receive their sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil. The Church of Saint Catherine of Siena has three men intending to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. We joined 67 other parishes in the Archdiocese of New York for the “Rite of Calling the Candidates to Continuing Conversion.”

The Most Reverend Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan, archbishop of New York, presided at an hour long ceremony in which sacred Scripture was proclaimed and preached, prayers of supplication prayed and the candidates prayed over by His Excellency. Calling down the Holy Spirit asking for the grace of conversion was the goal.

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Blessed John of Parma

Blessed John of Parma.jpgBlessed John of Parma (1209-1289) was born at Parma. He studied and taught philosophy and known to be a devoted man to the Lord. Sensing the Lord’s call to serve Him more intensely, John entered the newly founded Friars Minor, the group that followed Saint Francis of Assisi. Completing his theological studies John was ordained priest and taught theology at Bologna, Naples and eventually in Rome. Father John was sent to the Council of Lyons in 1245.

In 1247, Father John was elected the 7th minister general of the Franciscans, an election presided over by Pope Innocent IV, who thought very highly of Father John. John set in motion several initiatives to keep the friars focussed on the mission of Francis and his spirit looking keenly on poverty and humility as hallmarks of the Franciscan way of living the Gospel.
Father John was sent as a papal legate to Constantinople in an attempt healed the schism between Catholics and the Greek Orthodox. He had limited success.
Our peripatetic friar died on March 19, 1289 and his feast is kept on March 20. Father John was beatified in 1777.
More on Blessed John of Parma can be read here.

Transfiguration Sunday

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Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ, our God, showing to Thy disciples Thy glory as each one could endure. Shine forth Thou on us, who are sinners all, Thy light ever-unending. Through the prayers of the Theotokos, Light-Bestower, glory to Thee.

 
The focus of today is not our self-initiated transfiguration but on our attentive listening to Christ and our worthy approach of the altar to be transfigured by the Risen Christ present in the Eucharist.
 
Can we approach the Transfigured Christ and allow him to change us?

Claudio Celli advicates for greater use of social media

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, has urged Catholics to evangelize the “digital culture.” He made his remarks on March 18.  A common theme spoken of  in recent weeks from various Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict. Celli’s office has been working overtime in recent weeks in tackling media in its various forms. And one must remember that it has taken aliong time to get where we are today, thanks in part to the good work of many laity, lower clergy and a Franciscan Sister of the Eucahrist Sister Judith Zoebelein. The Vatican has been on the web since 1995.


Archbishop Celle told L’Osservatore Romano in a March 17 interview that after Easter, the Holy See will launch a new news website that will gather all the Vatican media services into one portal in English, French and Italian with the hope to offer its media services in additional languages.

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Cardinal Burke on the truth of human sexuality & fall of Christian culture

Raymond Cardinal
Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, has been traveling lately. Most recently to Australia. There he spoke on the theme of “The Fall of the Christian West,” at a
symposium organized by the Australian Catholic Students Association, Sydney. He gave “particular attention to the witness to the truth regarding human sexuality, as fundamental to holiness of life, and to the question of conscience as the irreplaceable and secure guide in the pursuit of holiness of life.” The cardinal also reflected on martyrdom.

Among
many things said in the address the Cardinal said:

  • quoting Benedict XVI said, we “need to form our consciences, in accord with the moral teaching of the Church … ‘our responsibility to make these criteria [these moral foundations] audible and intelligible once more for people today as paths of true humanity, in the context of our paramount concern for mankind'”
  • “…our call to build anew a
    strong Catholic culture    , in fidelity to our vocation to give witness to Christ
    and, therefore, to be martyrs for the faith”
  • “witness to the truth regarding
    human sexuality, as fundamental to holiness of life, and to the question of
    conscience as the irreplaceable and secure guide in the pursuit of holiness of
    life.”
  • “The life of the martyr for the faith finds its center and source in the
    Eucharistic sacrifice    , in Eucharistic adoration, and in all forms of
    Eucharistic devotion, especially visits to the Blessed Sacrament and spiritual
    communion throughout the day” 
  • “The Holy Eucharist not only strengthens us
    spiritually to be true martyrs, but is the model of our martyrdom, pure and
    selfless love, without condition, to the end.”
You ought to read the entire excellent address is here: Cardinal R Burke, The Fall of the Christian West, March 11, 2011.pdf