Father, You sanctified the Church of Rome with the blood of her first martyrs. May we find strength from their triumph.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York received his pallium today from Pope Benedict XVI as a sign of communion with the Pope. He joined 33 new archbishops including 4 other Americans who received their pallia too.
Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the leg bone
Leg bone connected to the knee bone…
The Church has confirmed the millennia reverence of the bones in Saint Paul’s sarcophagus are in fact those of the Apostle to the Gentiles. At the close of the Pauline Year this is terrific news for all people. The witness of Paul’s life –and now his bones– makes Christian faith credible because of the physical connection we have with such a great man as the Apostle.
The Pope said: “Small fragments of bone were found and radiocarbon dated by experts who did not know their place of origin. Results indicate that they belong to someone who lived between the 1st and 2nd century A.D. This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition according to
which these are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul. All this fills our soul with deep emotion.”
“The Pauline Year has come to an end, but being on the same path as Paul and, with him and thanks to him, know Jesus and, like him, be enlightened and transformed by the Gospel, will always be part of Christian existence,” the Pontiff said.
I highly recommend reading the Asia News story
As expected, today the Pope signed off on his latest
encyclical, Charity in Truth. This latest work of the Pope’s is a social
catechesis that will address issues of concern for the poor, globalization,
solidarity with brothers and sisters. The work will be published soon (when the
translation can be settled on). It’s expected before the G8 meeting (hopefully
around July 6 or thereabouts).
The said in part introducing his work: “The publication of my third encyclical is
now near, which has the title Caritas in Veritate. Taking up the social themes
contained in Populorum Progressio, written by the Servant of God Paul VI in
1967, this document — which is dated precisely today, June 29th, the Solemnity
of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul — aims to deepen a few aspects of
integral development in our age in the light of charity in truth. I entrust to
your prayers this new contribution that the Church offers to humanity in her
commitment for sustainable progress, in full respect for human dignity and
everyone’s real requirements.”
John
Allen’s article
on the forthcoming encyclical.
Peter, blest Shepherd! hearken to our cry,
And with a word unloose our guilty chain;
Thou who hast power to open the gates on high
To men below, and power to shut them fast again.
O thou great Doctor, Paul, we here beseech of thee
Lead thou our spirits up to heavenly mystery,
Tills ends the partial knowledge that to us is given
While here below, and we receive the fuller light in heaven.
May everlasting honor, power, and glory be
And jubilation, to the Holy Trinity,
The One God, ever ruling all things mightily,
Throughout all endless ages of eternity. Amen.
O
God, Who has made holy this day with the martyrdom of Thine Apostles Peter and
Paul, grant that Thy Church may in all things follow the precepts of those from
whom it first received the faith.
In your manner a participant,
And in your throne a successor of
the Apostles,
You discovered action an entrance into visions,
O inspired one of God.
Therefore directing the Word of Truth,
You suffered for the faith even unto blood.
O Bishop and Martyr Irenaues,
Pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved!
(Troparion, Tone 4)
Give perfection to beginners, O Father; give intelligence to
the little ones; give aid to those who are running their course. Give sorrow to
the negligent; give fervor of spirit to the lukewarm. Give to the perfect a
good consummation; for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
(Prayer of Saint Irenaeus)
Pope Benedict XVI March 28, 2007 catechesis on Saint Irenaeus is helpful to read.
We cling to our faith because of the witnesses that go before us, those who point the way to the Lord. Our Catholic faith is born of the faith of another. Therefore, we hold fast to apostolic faith given to us by the Apostles and we in turn pass the orthodox faith onto others. As Irenaeus said, “Hold in suspicion those who depart from the primitive succession” and “those who put forward their own compositions, boasting that they possess more Gospels than there really are.” One interesting note about Saint Irenaeus is that he is the first theologian to insist that we follow the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John because they were trustworthy, and no others.
Rejoice we all in the Lord, as we keep festival in honor of
the Blessed Virgin Mary: whose solemnity makes angels joyful and sets them
praising the Son of God. Joyful the thoughts that well up from my heart, I
shall speak of the works of the King
Mother of Perpetual Help,
with the greatest confidence
we come before your holy picture
to be inspired by the example of your life.
We think of you at that moment when,
full of faith and trust,
you accepted God’s call
to be the mother of his Son.
Help us, your children,
to accept with joy our own calling in life.
When you learned that your cousin Elizabeth was in need
you immediately went to serve her
and offer your help.
Help us, like you,
to be concerned for others.
We think of you, Mother,
at the foot of the cross.
Your heart must have bled
to see your Son in agony.
But your joy was great
when he rose from the dead,
victorious over the powers of evil.
Mother of Sorrows,
help us through the trials and
disappointments of life.
Help us not to lose heart.
May we share with you and your Son
the joy of having courageously faced up
to all the challenges of life.
Amen.
O God, Who did make blessed Cyril, Thy Confessor and
Bishop, the invincible champion of the divine motherhood of he most Blessed
Virgin Mary; grant through his intercession, that we who believe her to be
truly the Mother of God, may be saved through her maternal intercession.
Rarely does one see the ACLU agree with the Catholic Church never mind agree with a local Church prelate on constitutional matters. Here the officials of Diocese of Bridgeport can justifyably claim that they were correct in their reading of the First Amendment and stating that they’re not a lobbyist. The ACLU runs contrary to Carol Carson of the State of Connecticut Ethics Committee’s ascertion that the Diocese violated state law. The CT Post ran a story today (of course it was not on page one).
In its filed brief the ACLU stated: “The Supreme Court, keenly aware of the need to carve out a protected zone, for petitioning activity, that lobbying statutes cannot reach, has defined lobbying narrowly, as involving only ‘direct communications with members of the [legislature]’ or indirect communications occurring ‘through an artificially stimulated letter campaign.” The brief backs up my thinking that a clearer definition of what a lobbyist is and how a lobbyist works in congress is needed. The governor’s office or one of legislators ought to propose a revision of existing law so as not to bog down the good work of the State in the future. I wonder how money was spent on this foolish exercise!
Nevertheless, there remains a lot of work to do on the education front: What is the purpose of the Catholic Church, how does it engage in the public square and what is a believing Catholic’s response, how do people of good will mobilize to express regret with their lawmakers?