Today is the Feast of Saints Edmund Campion and Robert Southwell. It is also the launch date of a webzine venture called the New Jesuit Review — guys trying to do the right thing. So far, so good.
God bless them for their effort. Perhaps editors can attract other good Jesuits to write for them. Time will tell if they can maintain the momentum of publishing worthwhile literature, unlike some other notable Jesuit sponsored publications.
God of our
weary years, God of our silent tears, O Good and gracious God, you are the God
of health and wholeness.
In the plan of your creation, you call us to struggle
in our sickness and to cling always to the cross of your Son. Father, we are
your servants. Many of us are now suffering with HIV or AIDS.
We come before
you, and ask you, if it is your holy will, to take away this suffering from us,
to restore us to health and to lead us to know you and your powerful healing,
love of body and spirit.
We ask you also to be with those of us who nurse your
sick ones. We are the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, and friends
of your suffering people. It is so hard for us to see those whom we love
suffer. You know what it is to suffer. Help us to minister in loving care, support,
and patience to your people who suffer with HIV and AIDS.
Lead us to do
whatever it will take to eradicate this illness from the lives of those who are
touched by it, both directly and indirectly. Trusting in you and the strength
of your Spirit, we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.
An astute observer of religion has to pay attention to the current situation of Christianity and Islam, in all its forms. One person to listen to is Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir, a Cairo born Islamic scholar and Catholic theologian teaching at Saint Joseph’s University, Beruit; Father Samir is well-published and well-sought after for counsel on Christian-Muslim matters.
Almighty,
eternal God, You raised up among the people of England and Wales the holy
martyrs Edmund, Robert and their companions, and willed that they should
imitate Christ, who died to redeem the world. Grant that, by their
intercession, Your people may be strengthened by the same faith and love and
always rejoice in Your gift of unity.
On Saint
Robert Southwell, plus there’s more here.
Behold the
father is his daughter’s son,
The bird that
built the nest is hatched therein,
The old of years
an hour hath not outrun,
Eternal life to
live doth now begin,
The Word is
dumb, the mirth of heaven doth weep,
Might feeble is,
and force doth faintly creep.
O dying souls,
behold your living spring;
O dazzled eyes,
behold your sun of grace;
Dull ears,
attend what word this Word doth bring;
Up, heavy
hearts, with joy your joy embrace.
From death, from
dark, from deafness, from despairs
This life, this
light, this Word, this joy repairs.
Gift better than
himself God doth not know;
Gift better than
his God no man can see.
This gift doth
here the giver given bestow;
Gift to this
gift let each receiver be.
God is my gift,
himself he freely gave me;
God’s gift am I,
and none but God shall have me.
Man altered was
by sin from man to beast;
Beast’s food is
hay, hay is all mortal flesh.
Now God is flesh
and lies in manger pressed
As hay, the
brutest sinner to refresh.
O happy field
wherein that fodder grew,
Whose taste doth
us from beasts to men renew.
Pope Benedict has asked us to pray for these two intentions for the month of December. So, our prayer is united with his before the Divine Majesty asking that His Will be done and for these two points of intercession.
The general intention
That children may be respected, loved, and never exploited.
The missionary intention
That during Christmas the peoples of the earth may recognize the Incarnate Word as the light that illuminates every person, and that every nation may open its doors to Christ, the Savior of the world.
Have you connected with the Apostleship of Prayer? It is a good organization to link yourself to: faithful to the Gospel and Church
“Freedom is to acknowledge that God is all…. It is complete self-fulfillment … the possibility to reach and confront one’s destiny” (Giussani). Pope John Paul II reminded us that “communion with the crucified and risen Lord is the never-ending source from which the Church draws unceasingly in order to live in freedom.” Freedom means adhering to the risen Lord with the full force of our full-blown faith. As Cardinal Christoph Schönborn writes, “To allow oneself to be led by God, to abandon oneself to his direction, is the highest expression of our freedom.” For “God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel so that he might…freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him” (CCC 1730).
Their sound goes forth to all the earth. And their speech to the end of the world.
This coming December 1 the World AIDS Day will be
observed. My thought and my prayer go to all persons affected by this sickness,
in particular children, to the poorest and to those who are rejected. The
Church does not cease to combat AIDS, through her institutions and the
personnel dedicated to it. I exhort everyone to make their own contribution
with prayer and care, so that those who are affected by the HIV virus will feel
the presence of the Lord who gives support and hope. Finally, I hope that, by
multiplying and coordinating efforts, this sickness will be halted and
eradicated.
As you know, 21 November 2009 the Holy Father held an
audience in Rome with a number of prominent artists, musicians and architects.
In support of his efforts, a number of Catholic architects, academics,
musicologists, journalists have drafted a letter of appeal to Pope Benedict
offering considerations for the recovery the sacred arts in support of the sacred
Liturgy.
I have attached the English draft translation for your consideration.
This is still in draft form, but is substantially in place. Appeal to His Holiness.pdf
A Congress on
Sacred Art in Rome is being planned next year to draw attention to the issue.
At present, we are still looking to get the word out, and to enlist signatories
of architects, artists, academics, journalists, cultural critics, clergy,
concerned laity, and the like to add their support to this endeavor.
Would you
please visit the website to become a signatory to this letter, and forward this email to your own circle
of influence, and perhaps give it some space where ever you publish or
contribute?